This past month, on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, it was commonplace to honor the thousands of Americans who died that day or those who perished in the aftermath. Many towns in my home county of Nassau suffered incredible losses per capita, which are always felt keenly on any anniversary of the attacks, and even more so on the 20th anniversary. Especially in New York, tributes rolled in on social media and among families, many accompanied by a familiar phrase: “Never forget.” While it seems clear that the United States will never forget the brave actions of first responders on that day, it is equally important that the United States does not forget the countless number of victims outside our country whose lives were upended due to the events of Sept. 11.

Just weeks after Sept. 11, the United States invaded Afghanistan and quickly toppled the ruling government, which had been established by the Taliban. In the wake of the invasion, the Taliban made an offer of unconditional surrender which the United States rejected. By 2003, the United States had ceased major combat operations, shifting military focus to Iraq and emphasizing reconstructing Afghanistan. While there were early successes, it quickly became apparent that “nation-building” in a country like Afghanistan would not be an easy task, and by 2014, the Pentagon surmised that the United States would need to reach a settlement with the Taliban to end the American presence in Afghanistan. The only real achievement that the United States completed in Afghanistan after 20 years was the killing of Osama bin Laden, who had been hiding out in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Taliban became resurgent and swept through Afghanistan in 2021, leaving the United States with little choice but to end all operations in the country. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States spent just shy of $1 trillion dollars in military spending on the conflict in Afghanistan. Nearly 2,500 American soldiers, and just over 47,000 Afghan civilians died during the conflict.

The Bush administration further utilized the grief and suffering of American citizens after Sept. 11 to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He and his administration consistently lied to the American public and drew links between Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and global terrorism. The most egregious of these lies was that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. The lies worked, with 69 percent of Americans believing that Hussein was personally involved with the terror attacks and 82 percent believing Hussein assisted bin Laden. Although the United States quickly toppled the Iraqi government, the Pentagon once again found nation-building to be a difficult task, and the central power vacuum gave rise to insurgency groups and a sectarian civil war. The United States withdrew in 2011 and, once again, due to the lack of American support to the Iraqi government, the country quickly fell back into violence, culminating with the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to the Iraq Body Count project, approximately 200,000 Iraqi civilians have died due to violence stemming from the U.S. invasion. The Watson Institute at Brown University estimates that 9.2 million Iraqis have been internally displaced or forced to seek refuge abroad since 2003.

Even within the United States, many darker instincts became apparent in the period after Sept. 11. According to FBI data, hate crimes against Muslims rose by 1,617 percent between 2000 and 2001. Islamophobia became a larger part of right-wing rhetoric, most notably during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, coinciding with another spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes. Instead of tamping down this rhetoric, Trump told Anderson Cooper he thinks “Islam hates us,” and that “it’s very hard to separate. Because you don’t know who’s who” when differentiating between terrorists and the overwhelming majority of Muslims, according to CNN. Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York during Sept. 11, boasted that he sent undercover police officers into mosques to “keep track of good ones and the bad ones.” Both of these remarks came 15 years after Sept. 11 but clearly still carried water for a large percentage of the U.S. population, as Trump became president and Giuliani became a prominent figure in Trump’s Republican Party.

While it is easy to say that the United States reached a place of national unity in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it is clear this spirit of unity did not extend throughout the entire country and it did not last particularly long. Two wars fought on false premises and the unchecked rise of Islamophobia testify to this. Even 20 years later, the larger consequences of Sept. 11 remain outside of the popular discourse surrounding the day. Nearly all of the public figures who supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan remain in the public eye and are rarely forced to answer for their support for not one but two disastrous wars. Islamophobia is still a useful rhetorical tool on the American right with little to no consequences for those who espouse such beliefs. Remembering the efforts made and the lives given during and immediately after Sept. 11 is commonplace and requires only positive national reflection. Reckoning with the full legacy of that sunny morning — balancing recognition of the best of the United States and understanding the events that unfolded as a response to the attacks — remains a work in progress.

Theodore Brita is a sophomore majoring in political science.