The day that changed the world
It is 17 years since the terrorist attacks against the USA on September 11th 2001, which left some 3000 dead, including Romanians
Bogdan Matei, 11.09.2018, 13:05
17 years on, the USA as well as the international community continue to mourn the dead of 9/11, the darkest day in the history of terrorist attacks on civilization. Nearly 3000 people were killed by Al Qaida kamikaze commandos that hijacked four airliners and flew them into New York’s World Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon, emblematic buildings for the US economic and military power.
One of the planes, which was supposed to strike the White House, crashed in a forest, after the passengers had preferred to die fighting with the suicide terrorists. In 2017 a new memorial to the victims took shape, the names of the dead being inscribed on bronze parapets.
The names of hundreds of police officers, firemen, builders and volunteers who subsequently died because of the ash and toxic smoke they had inhaled are inscribed on a separate plate. As an eloquent detail, there is an empty space on the plate, on which the names of people who might die of the same causes could be inscribed.
Around 75,000 people still suffer from mental and physical disorders caused by the then trauma. Most of the dead were civilians coming from 90 countries. They included five Romanian-born Americans: Eugen Gabriel Lazar, Alexandru Liviu and Corina Stan, Joshua Poptean and Ana Fosteris, as well as the famous architect Arkady Zaltsman from the Republic of Moldova with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, who had designed the Parliament Palace in Chisinau.
The North Atlantic Alliance invoked Article 5 of its Charter for the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, whose principle is collective defense. Just like the whole civilized world, at the time, Romania firmly condemned the attacks against the USA and immediately joined the anti-terror coalition.
Already having a strategic partnership with the USA at that time, but no membership of NATO, Romania did not hesitate to send troops to Afghanistan, where the Al Qaida network was under the Taliban protection.
According to data issued by the National Defense Ministry, 26 Romanian military died in the line of duty and some other 100 were injured in Afghanistan. Today, 17 years on, 625 Romanian troops are deployed near Kandahar, teaming up with American soldiers. The Romanian troops provide counseling to the Afghan armed and security forces and humanitarian aid to the Afghan civilian population. They perform daily patrol missions often capturing Taliban insurgents.
