9781422286005

War in Afghanistan: Overthrow of the Taliban and Aftermath

10

Aerial view of the destruction caused when a hijacked commercial airliner crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. All 62 people on board the aircraft were killed, along with 125 people in the Pentagon.

and the twin towers soon collapsed, killing everyone still inside—includ- ing firemen, policemen, and emergency workers who had rushed into the buildings trying to save trapped workers. The city was showered for blocks around with ash, glass, and soot. The September 11 attacks were the deadliest foreign attack on U.S. soil in American history. More than 3,000 people were killed that day. Millions of other Americans were traumatized by the images of the col- lapsing towers and the charred Pentagon. Financial losses resulting from the attacks were estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Link to Afghanistan In the ensuing days, as evidence was collected, American intelligence offi- cials learned that the September 11 attacks had been planned and carried out by members of a group called al-Qaeda, which was led by a man