24 years back, the world witnessed the biggest terror attack in history when 19 terrorists hijacked 4 planes and crashed them leading to the deaths of 2,996 people. The world saw in horror the visuals of passenger planes crashing in to the twin towers of World Trade Centre in New York, bringing the towers crashing down.
The attack was carried out by Islamic terror outfit Al Qaeda, masterminded by its head, Osama bin Laden, the most notorious terrorist to have ever existed.
It is often repeated that the world has not been the same again since the terror attack. In the aftermath, US launched its ‘war on terror’ and invaded Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in an attempt to neutralise the Islamic terror network that executed the dastardly attack.
However, 24 years after the war on terror was launched, how successful has it really been? Islamic terrorism still continues to be the bane of humanity all across the world.
Lets start with Afghanistan itself, US invaded, displaced terrorist organisation Taliban, installed a democracy, and in 2025, where are we? Taliban with its strict Sharia law is again in-charge, women are still being oppressed, those opposing Sharia are targeted and hunted down, makes US decades long war seem absolutely futile.
Al Qaeda, which executed the 9/11 terror attack continues to operate through its multiple affiliate organisations. They are still active across the Middle East and North Africa, and continues to try to create disturbance in India as well. In fact, the current Syrian President was previously an Al Qaeda operative. Instead of reducing Al Qaeda influence, now we have a former Al Qaeda member running an important country in the Middle East.
After Afghanistan, US war on terror reached Iraq, and the US invasion gave birth to the most dreaded Islamic terror organisation of all time, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Ironic that the war which was launched to combat Islamic terrorism, led to the creation of the worst form of it.
Islamic State terrorists controlled vast areas of land in Iraq and Syria at one point. They carried out Yazidi genocide and imposed their extreme version of Sharia on the local population.
While their influence has reduced significantly following the death of their leader al-Baghdadi in a US operation, the organisation and its members continue to stay active. Terrorists swearing allegiance to Islamic State continue to carry out terror attacks regularly.
Staying in Middle East, the Islamic terror outfit Hamas, which continues to rule Gaza, executed one of the worst terror attacks in the post 9/11 world when it killed over 1200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023. Hundreds were also taken hostage after the terror attack. Even though Israel has neutralised several key leaders of Hamas, the organisation is still holding Israeli hostages and is refusing to give them up.
In the East of Africa, we have Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujāhideen or Al Shabaab as its commonly known, the Sunni Islamic terror organisation. Primarily active in Somalia, Al Shabaab regularly carries out terror attacks against Somali citizens, and has made sure peace doesn’t come to the impoverished region any time soon.
Staying in Africa, we have another dreaded terrorist organisation, Boko Haram. Officially known as Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da’wa wa al-Jihad, the terror outfit is primarily active in Nigeria, but is also active in neighbouring Niger, Chad, Mali and Cameroon. Boko Haram wants to establish Sharia law in Nigeria and carries out terrorist attacks throughout the country in their attempts to achieve their goal.
Now we come to the fountainhead of Islamic terrorism, our beloved neighbour Pakistan. Pakistan has a state policy to nurture and harbour Islamic terrorism to achieve its objective of creating unrest in India.
Ironically, Pakistan was an ‘ally’ of US in the war against terror while sheltering Osama bin Laden at the same time. Pakistan is the home of more terror outfits than one can count. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, The Resistance Front (an offshoot of LeT) just to name a few.
There are more terrorists per capita in Pakistan than in any country of the world. The Islamic terrorists backed by Pakistan, on April 22, 2025, killed 26 innocent civilians in Pahalgam, India. The terrorists asked for religion of the tourists in Pahalgam and then killed the Hindus among them.
When India responded to this terror attack by launching ‘Operation Sindoor’ and destroying terror hideouts, Pakistan establishment took it rather personally. In response to the attack by India against Islamic terrorists, Pakistan launched a wave of drone and missile attacks on India before begging for ceasefire after India destroyed several Pakistan airbases.
Pakistan obviously can’t tolerate that someone destroys the Islamic terrorism network it has cultivated in its backyard over the past several decades.
However, the point is, 24 years after the terror attack by Al Qaeda, the world is still grappling with the scourge of Islamic terrorism. Be it the lone wolf attacks in Europe, or the organised networks in Middle-East, Africa, and Pakistan, it is present everywhere.
The world leaders offer platitudes after every attack but do little more than that. The world needs to come together as one and ensure strict action to make sure we can get rid of this terror once and for all. Else, these attacks will continue to happen, and people will continue to live in fear and terror all the time.
