NEW YORK - President Joe Biden said the US will not hesitate to use its military power against terrorist threats even though the Afghanistan war is over, in remarks at a ceremony marking the 21st anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
“We’ll continue to monitor and disrupt those terrorist activities wherever we find them, wherever they live, and we’ll never hesitate to do what’s necessary to defend the American people,” Mr Biden said on Sunday, speaking at the Pentagon.
“It took 10 years to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden but we did,” the President added.
He also cited the July airstrike he ordered that killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the successor of bin Laden.
Mr Biden laid a wreath at the military headquarters outside Washington, where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed on the morning of the attack, killing 184 people.
“Twenty-one years later, we keep alive the memory of all the precious lives stolen from us at Ground Zero, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon,” Mr Biden said on Twitter ahead of delivering remarks.
“To the families and loved ones who still feel the ache, Jill and I hold you close in our hearts.”
First Lady Jill Biden is participating in an observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
It has been an annual tradition for US presidents to attend memorial events to mark the deadliest terror attack on American soil.
“It’s not enough to stand up for democracy once a year or every now and then. It’s something we have to do every single day,” Mr Biden said.
Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes destroyed the Twin Towers.
Relatives of victims, police officers, firefighters and city leaders gathered at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, where the names of those who died were read aloud - as they have been every year since the deadliest single attack on US soil.
They rang bells and held moments of silence at 8.46am and 9.03am (1246 GMT and 1303 GMT), the precise times the passenger jets struck the World Trade Centre’s North and South Towers
Al-Qaeda hijacked a total of four planes. The third hit the Pentagon and the fourth, Flight 93, crashed in the field in Pennsylvania after passengers launched a revolt onboard.
Vice-President Kamala Harris, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Mayor Eric Adams were among the dignitaries attending the New York ceremony, where relatives hugged one another, placed flowers at the memorial and held placards or wore shirts with images of their lost loved ones.
“While the grief recedes a bit with time, the permanent absence of my father is just as palpable as it ever was,” the son of Mr Jon Leslie Albert said after reading several victims’ names, including his father’s.
Messages of sympathy and support came from outside the country, including from Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called Sept 11 “one of the most tragic days” for the US and the world.
“Facing missile attacks daily, Ukraine knows well what terrorism is and sincerely sympathises with the American people,” Mr Zelensky tweeted, referring to the Russian invasion of his country that has left thousands dead.
New York was illuminated late on Saturday by a “Tribute in Light” that showed two blue beams projecting into the night sky symbolising the Twin Towers.
This year’s anniversary comes roughly a year after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, where the nation’s military became bogged down in a two-decade-long war after invading in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Biden came under withering criticism for the chaotic nature of the pull-out, shaking Americans’ confidence in his ability to govern.
Mr Biden’s approval rating has rebounded in recent weeks amid a series of victories on domestic and foreign policy. BLOOMBERG, AFP
