On September 11, 2001, the world watched in disbelief as commercial airliners struck the World Trade Center in New York. For many, it felt like a second Pearl Harbor—a sudden, devastating blow from a distant enemy. But unlike Pearl Harbor, the attackers were not a nation-state but a diffuse network of militants hiding in Afghanistan's mountains, underestimated and misunderstood by intelligence agencies.
Twenty-five years later, the initial shock has given way to a sobering realization: the attacks were preventable, but the more consequential errors came in the decisions made in their aftermath. The global order that had held since 1945 did not collapse overnight, but the responses to 9/11 accelerated its erosion, reshaping geopolitics in ways that still reverberate across Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
The Preventable Attacks
In the years before 9/11, there were numerous warnings. The FBI and CIA were locked in bureaucratic rivalry, failing to share intelligence that might have connected the dots. Analysts who flagged the growing threat of al-Qaeda were often ignored. The 9/11 Commission later documented these missed opportunities, but the damage was done.
The attacks themselves were audacious in scale, involving coordinated planning across multiple countries. But the failure to stop them was not inevitable. It was a failure of leadership, prioritization, and inter-agency cooperation—a lesson that many nations, including in Asia, have since taken to heart.
The Bigger Mistakes
If the failure to prevent 9/11 was catastrophic, the subsequent responses were arguably worse. The invasion of Iraq in 2003, justified on flawed intelligence, destabilized the Middle East and diverted resources from the hunt for al-Qaeda. The global 'war on terror' led to prolonged conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, creating power vacuums that gave rise to new extremist groups, including ISIS.
In Asia, the effects were profound. The US pivot to counterterrorism allowed China to rise economically and militarily with less scrutiny. The wars in the Middle East drained American attention from the Indo-Pacific, a strategic shift that Beijing exploited. Today, the US is playing catch-up in the region, as fears of losing the AI race to China dominate Washington's agenda.
Lessons Learned, But Not Everywhere
One positive legacy is the development of intelligence-led policing. Agencies like the Indonesian police and the Australian Federal Police have cooperated closely, disrupting numerous plots. The ratio of foiled attacks to successful ones is now heavily skewed toward prevention. But lone-actor attacks remain a persistent threat, as seen in the Bondi Beach shootings in December 2025.
Yet the most glaring failure to apply these lessons came on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a mass attack on Israel. Despite multiple intelligence warnings, Israeli leadership ignored them, blinded by hubris and a misplaced faith in technology. The result was a catastrophic breach that has since triggered a devastating war in Gaza, with regional consequences that are still unfolding.
The response to October 7 has shown how terrorism can provoke disproportionate, unplanned retaliation, leading to immense suffering. The war in Gaza has not only devastated the enclave but also destabilized the West Bank, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East. It is a stark reminder that the biggest mistakes often come not from the initial attack but from the reaction to it.
For Asia, the lessons are clear. Counterterrorism cooperation is vital, but it must be paired with strategic restraint. The region's stability depends on avoiding the kind of overreaction that 9/11 triggered. As the world marks this grim anniversary, the focus should be on learning from the past, not repeating it.
