Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has publicly identified critical errors in the nation’s post-9/11 response. Speaking to journalist Alex Marquardt for the Al Jazeera program *This is America*, the former ambassador suggested that a climate of intense fear and public demand for action led to a cascade of strategic decisions with lasting global consequences.
The 9/11 assaults, carried out by 19 hijackers, resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people when commercial flights were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks remain the deadliest foreign strike on US soil.
Less than a month after the terror attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan to target al-Qaeda, initiating a conflict that would span nearly two decades. Khalilzad, who served as a senior director on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, acknowledged that the dominant emotion at the time was anger. Officials were driven by fears of sleeper cells and future plots, creating an urgency to capture suspected militants.
Khalilzad expressed regret over the decision to exclude the Taliban from the political process. He noted that reports have emerged indicating the militant group was willing to negotiate in 2001, but the US rejected the overture. The US military presence eventually ended in 2021, after which the Taliban reclaimed control of the country.
“One thought that has emerged is that we should have negotiated with the Taliban or included the Taliban in the political process in Afghanistan,” Khalilzad said. “It would have been good if that had happened.”
He attributed the refusal to engage with the Taliban to a combination of post-9/11 rage and the United States’ self-perception as an unchecked superpower. While he admitted that obtaining intelligence from the group was a priority, he conceded that their inclusion could have been beneficial.
In 2003, the US expanded its military campaigns with an invasion of Iraq. The administration justified the move based on intelligence claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear capabilities. These assessments were later proven false, yet the war lasted more than eight years and led to Hussein’s execution.
Reflecting on the Iraq War, Khalilzad stated, “With regard to Iraq, well, there the information was the problem. I think, in retrospect, the circumstances, the analysis, the information was problematic.” He explained that at the time, officials doubted Hussein’s denials and feared a repeat of the surprise attack seen on September 11. He asserted that without the trauma of 9/11, the US would not have attacked Iraq, noting that containment strategies had escalated into regime change.
Khalilzad also addressed the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, which followed a 2020 deal struck by President Donald Trump and executed under President Joe Biden. While acknowledging the criticism that the withdrawal endangered American troops and Afghan allies, Khalilzad supported the decision. He argued that after 20 years, the terrorist threat had been significantly degraded and that the war could have continued indefinitely.
Despite the Taliban’s return to power, Khalilzad offered a surprisingly positive assessment of the current situation regarding US security. “I think the Taliban, surprisingly, have been good in terms of terrorism for the United States interests,” he concluded.
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