In pictures: Silence and tears as US remembers 9/11 attacks - BBC News

Reuters

The US has been remembering the 2,977 people who died when four passenger planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda militants and crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 20 years ago.

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The first of six moment's of silence began with the ringing of a bell at the exact time the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

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The bell rang again when the second plane crashed into the South Tower; when each of the towers fell; when a third jet struck the Pentagon; and when a fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

Reuters

The names of each of the victims was read out during the ceremonies. Family members took turns to read out the names, paying tribute to the loved one they had lost.

EPA

Many of those who lost their lives in New York were firefighters who had gone into the two towers to try and get people out.

In total, 441 first responders were killed, the largest loss of emergency personnel in US history.

EPA

At the memorial in New York, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were joined by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as former First Ladies Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

AFP

George W Bush, who was president when the attacks happened, attended the ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the fourth plane came down after its passengers and crew overpowered the hijackers.

Reuters

The 184 people who lost their lives in the attack on the Pentagon were remembered at a ceremony outside the Department of Defense headquarters just outside Washington DC.

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Bruce Springsteen played I'll See You in My Dreams during the ceremony in New York to a silent crowd, with some gently swaying to the music.

All pictures subject to copyright.

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2021-09-11 19:43:05Z
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Leaders lament lost sense of unity as America marks 9/11 two decades on - Financial Times

Americans gathered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Saturday as US leaders past and present invoked the urgent need for unity at a time of domestic division.

George W Bush, who was Republican president at the time of the 2001 attacks, compared domestic violent extremism to “children of the same foul spirit” as the al-Qaeda attackers.

“[I]t is our continuing duty to confront them,” he said at the crash site of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, where passengers overwhelmed jihadi hijackers and prevented an attack on the US Capitol.

“So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment. That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together,” he said, adding that a “malign force” in common life was turning every disagreement into a clash of cultures.

Vice-president Kamala Harris, speaking after Bush at the Pennsylvania memorial, said unity was “imperative” for US strength and shared prosperity.

Their comments come at a time of heightened political polarisation as the US struggles to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic and faces uncertainty over its global role.

George W Bush called for unity at home © JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Former president Donald Trump, who contested his defeat in the 2020 election, prompting his supporters to storm the US Capitol, released a video message on Saturday praising first responders and attacking his successor Joe Biden.

Biden joined a New York ceremony to mark a moment of silence beginning at 8.46am, the time the first of four hijacked planes ploughed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.

He was joined by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in New York, and was due to visit all three US sites targeted by al-Qaeda.

The attacks were “one of the most unconscionable tragedies in our country’s history”, Biden said in a statement on Friday, one that “tore a hole in the heart of our nation”.

In a video address on the eve of the commemoration, he too called for an end to division. “Unity is what makes us who we are: America at its best,” he said. “We must have a fundamental respect and faith in each other, and in this nation.”

Biden later praised Bush’s speech in remarks to reporters, adding: “Are we going to, in the next four, five, six, ten years, demonstrate that democracies can work, or not?”

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 2001 attacks on New York’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon in Virginia and a fourth flight downed in Pennsylvania. Family members of the victims gathered at all three sites.

At the National September 11 Memorial and Museum next to where the Twin Towers fell, they read out the names of their deceased loved ones.

More than 2,400 US personnel were killed and 20,000 wounded in the wars that followed the attacks, which were conducted by al-Qaeda jihadis and planned from Afghanistan. The fatalities include 13 during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last month. Eighteen US veterans die by suicide every day, Biden said last month.

Karestan Koenen, a Harvard professor of psychiatric epidemiology who witnessed the planes fly into the World Trade Center and subsequently escorted grief counselling visits to what became known as Ground Zero, said the trauma had left an indelible mark on the nation. “It’s never closed,” she said.

Koenen cited a “collective need” to remember the attacks, which had led to the burgeoning study of post-traumatic stress disorder affecting veterans and civilians.

Antony Blinken, secretary of state, said the attacks motivated an entire generation of Americans “to pursue lives of service”. On Friday, he described this year’s commemoration as an “especially emotional” anniversary for veterans of the war, an oblique reference to the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last month following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Taliban were deposed following the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. The same ultraconservative Islamist militancy that has ties to al-Qaeda has now formed a government in Kabul.

In a statement paying tribute to first responders on Saturday, Trump said Biden “was made to look like a fool” over the US retreat from Afghanistan, accusing his administration of bad planning, incredible weakness and incompetence.

Richard Fontaine, chief executive of bipartisan think-tank Center for a New American Security, said the US had pulled off “huge successes” in its response to September 11, including preventing another mass-casualty attack on the homeland. But he cited “terrible overreaches”, including the harsh treatment of detainees and the war in Iraq.

“The whole thing was over 102 minutes later but . . . what we remember is the fear, the chaos, the confusion and the trauma of that day,” said Garrett Graff, author of an oral history of the September 11 attacks.

“The fact that we reacted so emotionally to that day, and chose to let ourselves be driven by that fear, is key to understanding sort of everything that the US got wrong,” he said.

Graff was referring to the war on terror that followed the attacks, which included military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the CIA’s resort to black sites and torture, and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, all of which harmed US global standing and polarised opinion at home.

Biden has promised to declassify parts of the FBI investigation into the attacks over the next six months, acceding to demands from family members of victims who want Saudi Arabia’s alleged role revealed.

Lloyd Austin, secretary of defence and a veteran of the Afghanistan war, said in a speech at the Pentagon, where 184 were killed in the attacks, that Americans “must be tireless guardians of our ideals, as well as our security”.

“America will always lead,” he said. “It’s our job to defend the great experiment that is America.”

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2021-09-11 16:53:12Z
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Bush uses his 9/11 speech in Shanksville to condemn 'violent extremists at home' - Daily Mail

George W. Bush uses his 9/11 anniversary speech in Shanksville to condemn 'violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home' and says they are 'children of the same foul spirit'

• Former President George W. Bush used his 9/11 anniversary speech to condemn 'violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home' 
• He also used the address to tell veterans and servicemembers that their sacrifices in the War on Teror weren't for nothing
• The former leader pushed the nation to display the same sort of unity that was present in the days after the September 11, 2001 attacks 

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:16 BST, 11 September 2021 | Updated: 17:02 BST, 11 September 2021

Former President George W. Bush used his 9/11 anniversary speech in Shanksville, Pennsylvania to condemn 'violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,' calling them 'children of the same foul spirit.' 

Bush also used his address to tell veterans and servicemembers that their sacrifices in the War on Teror weren't for nothing.

And the former leader pushed the nation to display the same sort of unity that was present in the days following the September 11, 2001 attacks. 

'Many Americans struggled to understand why an enemy would hate us with such zeal,' Bush said. 'The security measure incorporated into our lives are both sources of comfort and reminders of our vulnerability. And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within.'  

The former Republican president noted that there is 'little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home' except for their 'disregard of human life.' 

'In their determination to defile national symbols they are children of the same foul spirit and it is our continuing duty to confront them,' Bush said - an apparent refrence to both the 9/11 hijackers and the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists. 

President George W. Bush used his speech in Shanksville to talk about violent extremism at home 

Former First Lady Laura Bush (left) and former President George W. Bush hold hands prior to his speech Saturday in Shanksville, Pennsylvania 

Bush also aimed to assuage concerns voiced by veterans and servicemembers that their time in Afghanistan was all for naught - with the Taliban quickly taking over the country ahead of President Joe Biden's August 31 messy pull-out. 

'One thing is certain, we owe an assurance to all who have fought our nation's most recent battles,' Bush said. 'Let me speak directly to veterans and people in uniform.'

'You have shielded your fellow citizens from danger. You have defended the beliefs of your country and advanced the rights of the downtrodden. You have been the face of hope and mercy in dark places. You have been a force of good in the world,' said the former commander-in-chief. 

Nothing that has followed, nothing, can tarnish your honor or diminish your accomplishments,' Bush stated. 'To you and to the honor of dead, our country is forever grateful.'

Bush recalled that in the weeks following the attacks, 'I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient, united people.' 

'When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant from our own,' he said. 'Malign force seems at work in our common life. That turns every disagreement  into an argument and every argument into a clash of cultures.' 

'So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment,' he continued. 'That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together.' 

Bush said that he had come to Pennsylvania 'without explanations or solutions.' 

'I can only tell you what I've seen - on America's day of trial and grief I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know,' Bush said to applause. 

'At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith. That is the nation I know,' he said. 

'At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees. That is the nation I know,' Bush continued. 

Bush also defended millennials, who he said were described as 'individualistic and decadent,' saying they embraced an 'ethic of service' and 'selfless action.' 

'This is not mere nostalgia - it is the truest version of ourselves,' he said. 'It is what we have been. And what we can be again.'  

During Bush's speech, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were en route to Shanksville, as they'll go to all three sites Saturday where people perished on 9/11. 

Earlier President Biden and the first lady attended the New York City ceremony at Ground Zero.    

The Bidens filed into the event with former President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and former first ladies Michelle Obama and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  

Biden didn't speak at the ceremony in New York - as he chose to release a video Friday sharing his reflections instead. 

Members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, also attended the New York memorial service.    

President Joe Biden gazes upward as he attends Saturday's 9/11 memorial ceremony alongside Dr. Jill Biden, the Clintons, the Obamas and other elected officials 

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden depart New York City Saturday en route to Shanksville, Pennsylvania where the president will lay a wreath to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks 

From left: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Diana Taylor, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer place their hands on their hearts at the beginning of the 9/11 ceremony 

The One World Trade Center is seen during the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at the National September 11 Memorial in New York on Saturday

President Joe Biden is captured pulling down his mask to greet someone at Saturday's 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York 

Former President George W. Bush (right) and former First Lady Laura Bush attended the memorial service Saturday in Shanksville, Pennsylvania 

Vice President Kamala Harris (left) arrives at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania with her husband Doug Emhoff (center left) and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (center right) 

Vice President Kamala Harris was attending Saturday morning's ceremony in Shanksville - and then join up with Biden at the Pentagon. 

Former President George W. Bush, who was president during the attacks, will deliver remarks in Shanksville. Former First Lady Laura Bush was at his side at the Flight 93 National Memorial, which has grown out of the southwest Pennsylvania field where the fourth plane crashed. 

Former President Donald Trump said on Fox News on Friday that he will travel to Ground Zero to mark the attacks' 20th anniversary, but didn't specify timing. 

He didn't run into Biden on Saturday.  

Trump's ex-attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani - who was mayor during the attacks - attended the Ground Zero ceremony. 

Giuliani was among the high-profile Trump allies who pushed the so-called 'big lie' - that Biden wasn't the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. 

Trump sent out a statement complimenting Giuliani Saturday morning. 

'Congratulations to Rudy Giuliani (for the 20th time!), the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, for having shown such leadership and doing such an incredible job during and after the attack on our Nation!' the ex-president said. 

Biden avoided some additional awkwardness at Saturday's ceremony by signing an executive order that ordered a review of the classified documents related to the attack - something 9/11 families, first responders and survivors have demanded. 

Former President Barack Obama gives a salute as he enters Saturday's 9/11 ceremony in New York alongside former First Lady Michelle Obama 

Bruce Springsteen played 'I'll See You In My Dreams,' after a bell chimed at 9:03 a.m., marking when Flight 175 hit the second World Trade Center tower

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrives for ceremonies Saturday marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York arrives Saturday at the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is captured arriving Saturday at Ground Zero 

New York police and firefighters hold a US flag as a band plays the National Anthem at the National 9/11 Memorial during a ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary

An American flag is unfurled at the Pentagon in Washington Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks

Two bells were rung after each of the names of the victims of the Flight 93 were read aloud during Saturday's 9/11 ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania 

The president had been told by nearly 1,800 Americans impacted by the terror attacks last month not to come to any of the 20th anniversary events unless he declassified documents that potentially show Saudi government links to the September 11, 2001 hijackers.   

Biden's order makes no mention of Saudi Arabia.  

'When I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America,' Biden said in a statement. 'As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment.' 

'Today, I signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to oversee a declassification review of documents related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's September 11th investigations. The executive order requires the Attorney General to release the declassified documents publicly over the next six months,' Biden said in a statement last Friday. 

The Twin Towers are seen on fire minutes after commercial airplanes were crashed into them by Al Qaeda hijackers on September 11, 2001

Saturday's ceremony in New York included a playing of the National Anthem and bells chiming for when each of the four planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and finally a field in Somerset, County, Pennsylvania - sparing either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. 

Family members read the names of the deceased, giving tributes to husbands, wives, uncles, sisters, brothers and children who were among the 2,977 killed. 

Bruce Springsteen played 'I'll See You In My Dreams,' after a bell chimed at 9:03 a.m., marking when Flight 175 hit the second World Trade Center tower.  

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke at the Pentagon.  

'Oh my God, oh my God': How Jill Biden screamed down the phone to Joe when the second plane hit the Twin Towers on 9/11 as he was commuting to the Capitol on Amtrak

On the morning of September 11, 2001, now President Joe Biden was riding his beloved Amtrak from Wilmington to Washington and talking on the phone to his wife. 

 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,' Dr. Jill Biden yelled into the phone. 

One commercial airplane had already slammed into the North Tower at the World Trade Center in New York City. She exclaimed when a second followed. 

'Jill, what is it?' Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, asked his wife. 

'Another plane ... the other tower,' she responded. 

Biden is set to mark the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks with visits to Ground Zero, Shanksville, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon on Saturday. 

Then Sen. Joe Biden appeared on ABC News after the Pentagon was attacked in Washington and argued that Congress should get back in session and President George W. Bush should return to the White House

Dr. Jill Biden was on the phone with now President Joe Biden when Flight 174 crashed into the South Tower on 9/11. 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,' she exclaimed 

He recounted what he experienced on 9/11 in his 2007 memoir, 'Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics,' which he published in advance of his 2008 presidential run. 

He wrote that he was trying to project strength and help unify the American people on that fateful day. 

When Biden arrived at Union Station, Flight 77 had already disintegrated into the side of the Pentagon, and Washington was masked with a smoky haze. 

He headed several blocks to the U.S. Capitol Building, ignoring protests over the phone from his daughter Ashley, arguing it was the safest place to be that day. 

'Damn it, I want to go in,' Biden told a police officer who refused his access to the building. 

Congressional leaders, at that point, had been moved to a secure location. 

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush was on Air Force One and Vice President Dick Cheney was in the White House bunker. 

Biden wrote in his memoir that it was important to 'show the country we were still doing business.'  

Linda Douglass, who was an ABC News reporter at the time, told CNN in an interview that she found Biden and Sen. John Warner of Virginia discussing who had the most seniority, as they wanted Congress to come back. Biden, at the time, served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  

'He really felt it was important for the government to get right back to business,' Douglass told CNN. 'It was extremely important for the country to hear from a senior figure in the government,' she added.

People run from the Capitol Building after Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001. Biden arrived at Union Station after the Pentagon attack and an officer wouldn't allow him to enter the Capitol 

Biden agreed to jump on-camera and talk to ABC News, following Douglass to the live-shot location several blocks away. 

'I think we should get back as quick as we can, Peter, into session,' Biden said as he stood beside Douglass and spoke to anchor Peter Jennings. 

'I think we have to show that we're up, we're ready, we're ready to move, we are in fact - nothing has fundamentally altered this government,' he continued. 'And the tragedy that occurred to these thousands of people is one that we must in fact follow through and find out who's responsible for.'

'But in the meantime, we should be calm and cool and collected about going about our business as a nation. Terrorism wins when, in fact, they alter our civil liberties or shut down our institutions. We have to demonstrate neither of those things have happened,' Biden added. 

Biden wasn't willing to place blame on American officials not focusing on threats.  

'This in a sense is the most God awful wake-up call we've ever had to how we have to redirect our resources,' he said. 

Biden (right) ran into ABC News reporter Linda Douglass (left) outside the Capitol Building and agreed to go on TV 

During the TV hit, he also applauded Bush for coming back to Washington, as the president was en route. 

Later that day, Biden received a call from Bush, thanking him for his remarks.  

'It was important to show the American people that everybody now was safe and that we were all together in this. There were the Democrats, the Republicans - we were going to be supporting the president totally. And that's the message Joe sent, and that's why the president called him,' recalled former Rep. Bob Brady of Philadelphia to CNN. 

Brady gave Biden and his brother a ride back to Delaware that day. 

In his book, Biden wrote that Bush had told him the intelligence community had advised him to go to a bunker in the midwest. 

Biden argued the president needed to return to Washington, which he did. 

'I hung up the phone, and there was silence in the van until Jimmy spoke up,' he said of his brother. 

'Whatever staffer suggested he call you just got fired,' Jimmy Biden joked.   

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Hundreds of pro-Taliban Afghan women attend lecture at Kabul university in full-face veils - Daily Mail

Hundreds of pro-Taliban Afghan women attend lecture at Kabul university in full-face veils in support of the new regime's hardline policies on gender segregation

• About 300 totally covered women waved flags as speakers railed against West
• Handful wore Afghanistan's traditional blue burqas with small mesh windows
• Women's rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under Taliban's last rule
• This time, women will be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or at least divided by a curtain, the Taliban have said 

By Chris Jewers For Mailonline and Afp

Published: 14:12 BST, 11 September 2021 | Updated: 14:12 BST, 11 September 2021

Hundreds of pro-Taliban Afghan women attended a lecture at Kabul university today wearing in full-face veils in support of the new regime's hardline policies on gender segregation. 

About 300 women - covered head-to-toe in accordance with strict new dress policies for education - waved white Taliban flags as speakers railed against the West and expressed support for the Islamists' policies.

A handful wore blue burqas, which have only a small mesh window to see from, but most wore black niqabs covering most of the face apart from the eyes.

Many also wore black gloves.

Pictured: Afghan students listen to women speakers prior to their pro-Taliban rally outside the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul, Afghanistan, 11 September 2021

Women's rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, but since returning to power last month they have claimed they will implement a less extreme rule.

This time, women will be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or at least divided by a curtain, the Taliban's education authority has said.

They must also wear an abaya robe and niqab.

The women, who organisers said were students, listened to a series of speeches at Shaheed Rabbani Education University in the capital, Kabul.

Large Taliban flags flanked the podium, as the female speakers criticised women who have protested across Afghanistan in recent days.

They also defended the new government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which has banned demonstrations unless permission is granted by the justice ministry.

Daud Haqqani, director of foreign relations at the education ministry, said the protest was organised by the women, who had asked and been granted permission to demonstrate.

About 300 women - covered head-to-toe in accordance with strict new dress policies for education - waved Taliban flags as speakers (pictured) railed against the West and expressed support for the Islamists' policies

Taliban fighters stand guard outside a hall during a female student gathering before a pro-Taliban rally at the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul on September 11, 2021

'We are against those women who are protesting on the streets, claiming they are representative of women,' said the first speaker, covered head to toe.

'Is it freedom to like the last government? No, it is not freedom. The last government were misusing women. They were recruiting women just by their beauty,' she claimed.

Some in the audience held babies, who occasionally cried during the speeches, while others were young girls clearly too young for university.

A student named Shabana Omari told the crowd she agreed with the Taliban's policy that women should cover their heads.

'Those not wearing the hijab are harming all of us,' she said, referring to the headscarves worn by many Muslim women.

'The hijab is not an individual thing.'

Some in the audience held babies (pictured), who occasionally cried during the speeches, while others were young girls clearly too young for university

A handful wore blue burqas, which have only a small mesh window to see from, but most wore black niqabs covering most of the face apart from the eyes (pictured)

Omari concluded her speech by leading a chorus of 'Allahu Akbar', or 'God is greatest'.

Another speaker, Somaiya, said history had changed since the Taliban came back.

'After this we will not see 'bihijabi' (people not wearing headscarves),' she said.

'Women will be safe after this. We are supporting our government with all our strength.'

After the speeches in the meeting hall, the women walked in organised lines a short distance on the street outside, holding printed banners and flanked by Taliban soldiers carrying rifles and machine guns.

The public demonstration was in stark contrast with scenes in Kabul and elsewhere earlier in the week, when Taliban fighters fired into the air to disperse a number of protests against their rule, shooting two people dead.

Pictured: Veiled women hold banners and placards while marching during a pro-Taliban rally outside the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul on September 11, 2021

'Women who left Afghanistan cannot represent us,' one pro-Taliban banner on Saturday read.

'We are satisfied with attitude and behaviour of Mujahideens (Taliban)' read another.

The Taliban say they want to distance themselves from the harsher policies of old, when half the population was excluded from work and education.

Under new rules, women may work 'in accordance with the principles of Islam', the Taliban have decreed, but few details have yet been given as to what that exactly might mean. 

Earlier this week, Taliban fighters beat female protesters and opened fire to disperse demonstrators in Kabul - just hours after the Islamists banned rallies.

The militants announced a moratorium on demonstrations 'for the time being' on Wednesday night after the group was humiliated by viral images of women standing up to them. 

Footage posted online purported to show Taliban fighters beating female protesters in the streets - with one militant seen striking a woman with a crutch, hitting her on the arm before chasing her away. 

 Footage posted online purported to show one militant seen striking a woman with a crutch, hitting her on the arm before chasing her away

Taliban fighters were seen beating female protesters and opening fire to disperse them in Kabul hours after the Islamists banned rallies amid a wave of demonstrations

Video also showed armed Islamists brandishing guns chasing women away from a busy road. It came amid reports women defied the Taliban ban on protests, gathering outside the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul until the militants opened fire to disperse the crowd.

Footage showed Taliban in military fatigues preventing demonstrators from gathering and shouting at them to disperse. Gunshots and screams are then heard in the shaky footage, which MailOnline was unable to independently verify, before it hastily ends. 

Protest organisers had called off demonstrations after the ban was announced on Wednesday night amid a noticeably stronger armed Taliban presence - including special forces in military fatigues - on the streets of Kabul. 

The Islamists have taken a harsh stance to demonstrators - locking a crowd women in a basement to prevent them joining protests and whipping those who made to the rallies this week. 

Footage also showed the militants threatening demonstrators with weapons and firing warning shots into the air to forcibly disperse crowds. While harrowing images also emerged of journalists with angry welts and bruises after they were detained by Taliban fighters.

The protests are proving an early test for the Taliban who have seen a show of resistance since taking power on August 15 that was unthinkable under the extremist group's last regime in the 1990s. 

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2021-09-11 13:12:27Z
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9/11 anniversary: Biden calls for unity as US remembers attacks - BBC News

Reuters

US President Joe Biden has urged unity as his country remembers the victims of the 11 September attacks.

In a video released on the eve of the 20th anniversary, he paid tribute to the 2,977 people who lost their lives.

"We honour all those who risked and gave their lives in the minutes, hours, months and years afterwards," Mr Biden added, speaking of the emergency workers who responded to the attacks.

Commemoration events are due to take place on Saturday.

"No matter how much time has passed, these commemorations bring everything painfully back as if you just got the news a few seconds ago," the president said.

He acknowledged the "darker forces of human nature - fear and anger, resentment and violence against Muslim Americans" which followed the attacks, but said that unity had remained the US' "greatest strength".

"We learned that unity is the one thing that must never break," he added.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile said the attacks had failed "to shake our belief in freedom and democracy". Among the dead in the 11 September attacks were 67 Britons.

More on the 11 September attacks

• What happened on 9/11?
• 9/11 victim's son on day world
• From United to Disunited States - the years since 9/11

The attacks, which were planned by al-Qaeda from Afghanistan, saw four US passenger jets seized by suicide attackers - two of which were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, just outside the US capital, Washington DC, and a fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

President Biden is set to lead commemorations on Saturday and will visit the three attack sites with the first lady, Jill Biden.

There will also be six moments of silence to correspond with the times the two World Trade Center towers were struck and fell, and the moments the Pentagon was attacked and Flight 93 crashed.

The commemorations come at a difficult time for the president, who has faced strong criticism in recent weeks over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which ended a US presence that began less than a month after the 11 September attacks.

Mr Biden had promised to leave Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the attacks, and said it was unlikely the Taliban could seize the country.

Instead, the militant group went from taking control of their first major city to capturing the capital in less than 10 days.

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2021-09-11 03:52:35Z
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9/11 Anniversary: Taliban control Afghanistan after 20 years of war. - Sky News

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2021-09-10 19:27:42Z
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20 years after 9/11 many Afghans still fear Taliban rule - BBC News - BBC News

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2021-09-10 23:00:16Z
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