The Twin Towers and the misleading narrative of the “Axis of Evil”

By Evangelos Venetis, Expert on Islam and the Middle East…

From this year onwards, the anniversary of the Fall of the Twin Towers will be different, raising questions and embarrassment in American and international public opinion, as it coincides with the defeat and flight of the US from Afghanistan, the country that was first attacked by the US on the charge of sponsoring al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s leader, who blamed the asymmetric attack on the Twin Towers.

In particular, this year’s anniversary coincides with the US cooperation and alliance agreement with the Taliban, the same as the “demonized” enemies of the US. This includes delivering high-quality, high-volume US military equipment to the Taliban and not to the former US-led government in Kabul, predisposing the Taliban to further supplies from the US either directly or through their allies in the region.

The main question that arises in American public opinion and internationally is with what ideological framework did the Trump and Biden governments sign and implement the alliance with the Taliban. Awareness and acceptance of its defeat by Washington is a logical assumption based on facts. However, with the memory of the victims of the Twin Towers alive, such an acceptance is far from over and does not justify ideologically and morally the alliance with the Taliban and the handing over of power to them.

As much as some cynics invoke the separation of politics from ethics, these two concepts are interconnected with a common denominator, the connecting link of society, i.e. justice. Besides, the memory of the victims of the Twin Towers undoubtedly belongs to this moral context.

In previous anniversaries, the White House has given an ideological and moral dimension to the American response to the attack on the Twin Towers by shaping the so-called “Axis of Evil.” By allying itself with the Taliban, American policy in the Islamic world has ideologically undone itself in practice, dragging into oblivion and unreliability the already obsolete American Axis of Evil doctrine.