What happened?
On 11 September 2021, the US remembered the terrorist attacks that took place twenty years ago on the same day. President Biden and two former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama took part in the ceremony at ground zero in New York, where more than 2700 people lost their lives when those two planes plunged into the twin towers. As had been the case since 2001, the family members of those who had lost their lives in those attacks, came to the venue, read the names and remembered them. President Obama said: “9/11 reminded us how so many Americans give of themselves in extraordinary ways - not just in moments of great crisis, but every single day...Let’s never forget that, and let’s never take them for granted.”

Similar events were held in Shanksville in Pennsylvania, where the United Airlines flight 93 crashed, after the plans of the hijackers’ failed. Former President George Bush took part in the remembrance meeting; President Biden also was there, after being at ground zero in New York. George Bush in his remarks, warned of the “violence that gathers from within” and said: “There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home…But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols - they are children of the same foul spirit, and it is our continuing duty to confront them.”

Elsewhere in the US, at the Pentagon ceremony, where 184 were killed on the same day in 2001, Gen Mark Milley said: “The people we lost that day are not just names and numbers…We remember them today for not only who they were, but who they could have become.”

0n 10 September, President Biden, in a video message, remarked: “To me, that’s the central lesson of Sept. 11th, is that at our most vulnerable - the push and pull of all that makes us human, and the battle for the soul of America - unity is our greatest strength…We find light in the darkness. We find purpose to repair, renew and rebuild. And as my friend told me that September, 20 years ago: We must not be afraid.” He tweeted: “20 years after September 11, 2001, we commemorate the 2,977 lives we lost and honour those who risked and gave their lives. As we saw in the days that followed, unity is our greatest strength. It’s what makes us who we are - and we can’t forget that.”

What is the background?
First, remembering 9/11. Ever since 2001, the Americans have come together on 11 September on the three main locations – Pentagon, Manhattan and Shanksville to remember the lives lost to the terrorist attack perpetrated by al Qaeda. As President Biden remarked in his video message, they would commemorate those whose lives were lost. Biden said: “To the families of the 2,977 people, from more than 90 nations…America and the world commemorate you and your loved ones, the pieces of your soul…We honor all those who are risked and gave their lives in the minutes, hours, months and years afterwards.”

Second, the global position of the US as a superpower, since 2001. When al Qaeda terrorists attacked the US in 2001, the US was leading a unipolar world. Russia was weak, and China was yet to emerge. Europe was an American ally. Outside the 9/11 attack, that should have been one of the significant moments for the US as a sole superpower in the post-World War II period. In the next twenty years, that moment would slowly. In 2021, as the US commemorate twenty years of 9/11, its global position as a superpower is questioned by the rise of China, resurgent Russia and a troubled relationship with its trans-Atlantic partner – Europe. Afghanistan and Iran, where the US invested substantially in the last two decades are seen as failures. 

Third, the US legacy of the War on Terrorism. After 9/11, the US declared a war on terrorism. As Bush said, one is with the US, or against it. From the United Nations to Russia, many went along with the US. Al Qaeda was the primary target then; later, Iraq became the second major target. Today, twenty years later, after the killing of Saddam Hussain and Osama bin Laden, has the US emerged successful? Al Qaeda network has been neutralised; some would argue, it has got dispersed more in the last two decades and have found its place in Africa and Southeast Asia. The last two decades also witnessed the rise of ISIS, another global terror network, deadlier than al Qaeda. While the US mainland has been saved from any further terrorist attacks, there were a series of high profile terror attacks in Europe. Madrid train bombings in 2004, London bombings in 2007, Paris attacks in 2015 and Brussels attacks in 2016 were a few high profile attacks in Europe.

Fourth, the divide within the US, during the last two decades. Former President Bush’s remarks on 11 September 2021, regarding the violence that is gathering “from within” and the “cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home” should underline the decline within. The Trump years, the attack on US Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Texas legislation banning abortion are a few examples of the challenges that the US poses across the spectrum from within covering extremism, racism and gender. 

What does it mean?
The challenge for Biden is substantial, as he leads the US into the third decade after 9/11. There are serious fault lines within, besides the above social ones. Post-pandemic economic recovery, industrial resurgence, and infrastructural investments are a few areas, where the US would have to look inwards if it has to play a larger global role. An internally divided and economically weak US would pull Washington down to act as a global player. Externally, the rise of China would pose a challenge; however, it is not insurmountable. The challenge would be to build a coalition with its trans-Atlantic partners and build new ones across the Indo-Pacific. 

Biden could either remake the US and ensure that it plays its global role, or break it further, and lead to its further decline. The 2020s should be the most crucial decade for the US, since the end of the Second World War.