THE 11th day of September, 2001 (9/11), started out as an ordinary day in bustling New York. As residents headed to work, the first plane struck one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre at 8.46 am. Minutes later, another plane hit the second one. A third plane hit the Pentagon building while a fourth was downed in Pennsylvania. This was a massive terrorist attack against what was then the world’s sole superpower. An ordinary day had turned into a watershed moment for global geopolitics. So much changed so rapidly.

First, transnational terrorism emerged on top of the global priority list. Prompted by the US, the UN Security Council ado­p­ted on Sept 28, 2001, Resolution 1373, which bound all member states to prevent, suppress, and criminalise the financing of terrorism. A few years later, Resolution 1540 was adopted by the UNSC, obliging member states to prevent non-state actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Thus evolved a comprehensive global ecosystem against non-state actors carrying out terrorist attacks anywhere in the world.

Second, the US and Nato countries launched a ferocious attack against Taliban-led Afghanistan, which had given refuge to Al Qaeda, the group the US held responsible for 9/11. This........

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