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Terry Glavin: 25 years after 9/11, the West has given up

A 'forever war' is one you choose to lose

The 25th anniversary of the terrorist atrocities of September 11, 2001 is rendering all the memorials, tributes, reminiscences, chat-show panel discussions and public ceremonies that you might expect.

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At their best, Americans recall their unity and resolve in the face of what was an unprecedented attack from the skies, straight out of a science-fiction movie. Canadians will offer an accounting of themselves as plucky allies. The generosity of the people of Gander, Nfld., who opened their homes to thousands of stranded airline passengers, has just been awarded its own Heritage Minute from Historica Canada.

Terry Glavin: 25 years after 9/11, the West has given up Back to video

But as a world-historical event, September 11 is easily matched by the grotesque scenes from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, 20 years later. Tens of thousands of terrified Afghans had swarmed the airport in desperation and panic in the days leading up to Aug. 30, 2021. That was the day the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan. It was the day U.S. president Joe Biden squandered the $995-billion investment the U.S. Treasury had sunk into a multinational project to rebuild Afghanistan after decades of Russian occupation, famine, proxy-war barbarism and Taliban rule.

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That project was well underway: A new generation of Afghans was just graduating from university, women’s rights were........

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