Of the 13 US soldiers who died in an explosion at Kabul airport in the chaotic days of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, 12 belonged to the “9/11 generation”. This means that they were either not born or were too young at the time of the attacks to remember a country that did not fight terrorism.

Now that a generation has passed since 9/11 and the Allies have withdrawn their troops from Afghanistan, commemoration of the attacks looks different: For perhaps the first time in 20 years, American society is asking itself difficult questions about the cost of the attacks and the wars that were fought. to avenge the innocent deaths on 9/11. This is more important than ever, given that the United States is currently engaged in counterterrorism operations in 85 countries.

The first question concerns the war on terror “bill.”

The New York Times estimates that for every dollar spent by al-Qaeda terrorists on the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States lost $7 million in the first decade after 9/11. This, in fact, is the power of terrorism. Hence, from this disproportionate cost ratio, we also understand why traditional armies have such a hard time fighting terrorist groups.

Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, the United States takes stock and finds that, according to these numbers, the fight against terrorism has cost it $8 trillion. This is 40% of the country’s GDP last year.

Is it worth the price paid? What did I actually get?

Read more at Panorama.ro.