For most Afghans the words “nine eleven†and the images of the attack have no meaning at all, as British journalist Adam Pletts discovered while he was looking for a story with an unusual angle.
An overwhelming majority of Afghans have no idea about the September 2001 terror attacks against the US, even though it resulted in an American-led invasion of their country and a decade of occupation.
A modern Westerner would instantly recognize the image of a huge plane crashing into a skyscraper in an inferno of burning fuel. What happened 10 years ago was the pivoting point for global affairs.
America found itself in the middle of the War on Terror. Osama Bin Laden grew in the public eye from a second-rate terrorist to a global villain on a par with Hitler. Afghanistan, where the leader of Al-Qaeda was supposedly hiding, saw an invasion and 10 years of bloody guerilla warfare. For many American soldiers and officers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, 9/11 is a great moral support, a reason to be where they are.
[…]
