It’s been 20 years since the September 11 attacks when terrorist hijackers crashed commercial jets into the twin towers in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, killing 2,996 people.
The 9/11 attacks remain the deadliest terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.
Here at home, people are reflecting on the day and what followed the deadly attacks, including Rob Germain, who was the assignment editor at CHEK News at the time.
“I knew instantly when I saw the second plane hit that the world had changed,” he said.
“I needed to act. We needed to break into programming. I needed to call our news director. I needed to mobilize our news staff. But, the first call I made was to my wife to say, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but I love you,'” he continued.
With people glued to their TV screens at the time, newsrooms scrambled covering the attacks from every angle.
Germain said the community was stunned and watched in horror as they tried to understand what was happening.
The war on terror followed suit — about 929,000 people died, including 387,000 civilians from Afghanistan, Iraq and surrounding countries.
Just weeks ago, the last remaining troops left Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war.
The aftermath is still felt today with Afghan-Canadians on Vancouver Island who grew up with the impact of the attacks, many faced racism and bullying.
“I lied about my identity,” said Afghan-Canadian Morsal Niazi.
“We were met with a lot of bullying, a lot of jokes and discrimination as Afghanistan was highly associated with the 9/11 attacks,” she explained.
Decades later, she and fellow Afghan-Canadian Nargis Kiewiet feel all the progress in Afghanistan has been lost.
“Looking at it now 20 years later, it feels like we’re back to square one now. We gave Afghanistan back to the same Taliban,” said Kiewiet.
They both still have family back home who are all trying to stay put and lay low until they’re able to escape the country.
In the meantime, they urge Ottawa not to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government as they fear history might repeat itself.
Tahmina Aziz
