On September 11, 2001 members of Al Qaeda were able to take over US planes in an act of terrorism. Two of the planes struck the Twin Towers in New York and caused them to fall taking many lives in the process. Another plane struck the Pentagon and caused damage and casualties. The last plane was on its way to another attack when it abruptly crashed in a field in Pennsylvania and killed all passengers and terrorists on board.9/11 attacks were orchestrated by Al Qaeda in a move to disrupt the Western economies and to strike fear in our country and the world. It was a form of both economic and social terrorism. As well, the attackers intended to impose the direct and secondary costs on the target nation, the United States. Other nations in the western hemisphere were also part of the target and felt the burden of this attack. The attacks caused immense damage in terms of physical infrastructure as well as loss of lives and earnings. The effects caused many families to lose their earnings, and also slowed down the growth of the global economy. Capital losses were experienced in the stock markets around the world as well. Some of the effects included higher insurance and shipping costs. On the other hand, it had a massive impact on public confidence. It affected tourism and travel in a great way. The effects led to the invasion of two nations, Iraq and Afghanistan and meant the beginning of the global war on terrorism. To this day the war in Afghanistan is still going on. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, more terrorists attacked other countries as well including Morocco, Bali, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Spain. .
By hurting the Western economies these attacks were a huge success for Al Qaeda. "A strategy of Al Qaeda is to hurt the Western world by attacking economic nodes and avenues of commerce. Osama Bin Laden has pegged the cost of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. economy at $1 trillion.