9/11 attacks pitted US against China

Mustafa Kamel

The strategy of the United States towards other countries underwent change, two decades after the 9/11 attacks.

Washington is now more inclined to make efforts to fill in the void created by the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

However, this caused the US to enter useless wars that drained it militarily, financially and politically.

These losses caused the Americans to prefer isolation, but this attitude weakened American influence around the world.

It also gave rise to new powers that posed economic threats to the world’s sole superpower.

The US is now throwing down the gauntlet to major international economic powers, especially after the great economic rise of China.

9/11                 

On the evening of September 11, 2001, two passenger planes rammed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

The two towers came down crumbling like a house of cards in less than two hours, creating a cloud of dust that deafened America and the rest of the world with it.

A third plane destroyed the western facade of the Pentagon building outside Washington DC and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers resisted and controlled the hijackers.

The hijackers of the plane were believed to have wanted to use the plane to attack the Capitol Building in DC.

Filling in the void

The administration of then president George W. Bush tried to fill in the void caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union after the attacks.

It formulated the ‘global war on terror’ strategy which opened the door for protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In 2017, the US jumped into the field to compete with major world powers, including China.

The Asian country emerged during the last decade as an international economic superpower, posing threats to the economic might of the US.