Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the cost of our response remains unfinished.
bin Laden’s strategy was to exhaust America and force profound internal change. He never succeeded in defeating the United States militarily — his goal was to undermine the nation through prolonged conflict.
bin Laden did not achieve any of his objectives: American special forces killed him in Pakistan in 2011, and Al-Qaeda failed to topple Saudi Arabia, seize Jerusalem, or establish a global caliphate.
Yet his tactics were effective. He orchestrated the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia by 2003 — though the presence lingered — and drew America into long, expensive wars across the Muslim world beyond his expectations.
In 2004, bin Laden explicitly called for “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” To date, that bill has not been paid in full.
