🏢 Support from other states
The UN Security Council condemned the attacks. NATO, for the first time in its history, treated an attack on one member as an attack on all. Britain joined the USA in the war.
Changing Methods of Warfare at the Beginning of the 21st Century, 2000-2011 » Terrorism and 9/11
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B6, Key topic 5
- What happened in the attacks of 11 September 2001
- How the USA declared a 'War on Terror' and invaded Afghanistan
- How terrorism changed the way states fight and protect themselves
- How this war differed from the Soviet war in Afghanistan
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Unlock This CourseA new kind of enemy
This lesson is part of the Paper 2 Section B breadth study on the changing nature of warfare, 1919-2011. For most of the 20th century, wars were fought between states, with armies, navies and air forces. In the early 21st century a different threat came to the front: terrorism. It changed how states think about war and about their own safety.
Key terms:
- Terrorism: using violence to frighten people and to force a government or society to change.
- Al-Qaeda: a terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden. It was not a state and had no uniformed army.
- Taliban: the group that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 and let al-Qaeda train there.
- War on Terror: the name the USA gave to its long campaign against al-Qaeda and similar groups, announced in September 2001.
The attacks of 11 September 2001
Al-Qaeda had already struck the USA before. In October 2000, 17 American sailors were killed when a small boat full of explosives hit the warship USS Cole in the port of Aden, in Yemen. The attacks of 2001 were far bigger.
On the morning of 11 September 2001, 19 hijackers took over four passenger aircraft in the USA. Two were flown into the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in New York's business district, and both towers collapsed. A third hit the Pentagon, the headquarters of the American armed forces near Washington DC. The fourth, Flight 93, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to stop the hijackers. Almost 3,000 people died, from many countries. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in history, and it was watched live on television around the world.
The weapons were ordinary passenger aircraft and small knives. Tanks and missiles had not been needed. The attackers were not an army and were not defending a territory, so there was no capital city to bomb in reply.
The War on Terror and the invasion of Afghanistan
On 20 September 2001 President George W. Bush told Congress that the USA was starting a 'war on terror'. The USA said al-Qaeda was behind the attacks and that its leader, Osama bin Laden, was in Afghanistan. It demanded that the Taliban hand him over. They refused.
✈️ The invasion, from 7 October
American and British air strikes began on 7 October 2001. Small teams of special forces helped the Northern Alliance, Afghan groups already fighting the Taliban. Kabul fell in November and the last Taliban city, Kandahar, in December. The Taliban government was gone in about two months.
Bin Laden escaped and was not found for years. He was killed by American special forces in Pakistan on 2 May 2011. The war in Afghanistan did not end in 2001, because Taliban fighters returned as guerrillas, so the fighting went on for many years.
The War on Terror also spread. The USA and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003.
How terrorism changed warfare and protection
- Enemies without a state. Armies were built to fight other armies. Terrorists hide among civilians, so states relied more on intelligence, special forces and tracking money.
- Protecting the homeland. Airport security was tightened, and in 2002 the USA created a Department of Homeland Security. New laws gave police and spies wider powers, and many people argued about the cost to freedom.
- Attacks elsewhere. Bombs hit trains in Madrid in March 2004 and London on 7 July 2005, where 52 people were killed. Terrorism was a threat in peacetime, far from any battlefield.
- Wars far from home. The USA fought in Afghanistan, thousands of miles from New York, to stop attacks at home.
Change and continuity: the two wars in Afghanistan
Remember, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 with tanks and helicopters to support a friendly government. The mujahideen fought it as guerrillas, and the Soviets left in 1989. The 2001 invasion was different. The USA came to remove the Taliban, who sheltered al-Qaeda. It used air power and small special forces teams with local allies, and it had the backing of many states. Both wars show that holding Afghanistan was far harder than entering it, since guerrilla fighters could keep going for years.
Common mistakes
- Saying that the Taliban carried out the attacks. Al-Qaeda did. The Taliban sheltered them.
- Mixing up the invasion of Afghanistan (2001) with the invasion of Iraq (2003).
- Saying that Afghanistan was invaded to fight a country. The target was al-Qaeda, and the Taliban government that protected it.
- Treating the Soviet war and the 2001 war as the same. They had different reasons, forces and allies.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979-89) was different from the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. [6 marks]
Model answer
One difference is the reason for the invasion. The Soviet Union invaded in December 1979 to prop up a friendly communist government against Afghan rebels, whereas the USA invaded in October 2001 to destroy al-Qaeda, who had carried out the 11 September attacks, and to remove the Taliban, who sheltered them.
A second difference is the way the war was fought. The Soviets sent a large army with tanks and Mi-24 helicopters, but could not defeat the mujahideen and withdrew in 1989. In 2001 the USA used air strikes and small special forces teams working with the Northern Alliance, and the Taliban government fell within about two months.
What lifts it to the top level: each difference is a direct comparison with specific facts about both wars.
Exam tip
In a 'different from' question, put both sides in each paragraph, using words like "whereas". A way that describes only one war can score no more than half marks.
Recap
- On 11 September 2001 al-Qaeda hijackers attacked New York and Washington, killing almost 3,000 people.
- The USA announced a 'War on Terror' and invaded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001. The Taliban fell in about two months.
- Terrorism meant fighting enemies without a state, and states put more into intelligence and homeland security.
- The 2001 invasion differed from the Soviet war in aim, methods and allies.