When the world went adrift
(From The Japan Times September 11 issue)

世界を不安に陥れた同時多発テロ

Nine years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks by al-Qaida in the United States — symbolized by the collapse of the twin towers at New York's World Trade Center after two airliners had crashed into them and the deaths of some 3,000 people — the world seems adrift without a compass. In the absence of evidence that stable global security and economic systems are in place, a pervasive uneasiness exists.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration started a war in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida's stronghold there. But the United States is far from achieving the goal of establishing a democratic central government in that country.

There are few signs that the war in Afghanistan will end with success; on the contrary, the war seems to be escalating. More than 2,000 coalition soldiers are reported to have been killed since 2001. Another report puts Afghan civilian deaths since 2006 at some 7,000. A private-sector group estimates the annual cost of the war at nearly $100 billion.

The 9/11 attacks demonstrated the strong hatred harbored toward the United States by at least some segments of the Muslim world. Although U.S. President Barack Obama has sought dialogue with Muslims, concrete results have yet to come.

One of the reasons that the Bush administration started a war in Iraq in 2003 was its mistaken belief that President Saddam Hussein had forged connections with al-Qaida. Some 4,400 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq and, by some estimates, more than 110,000 Iraqi citizens have died.

U.S. economists Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes estimate the total cost of the war at $3 trillion, a conservative figure. Although the United States has withdrawn its combat units, the situation in Iraq is shaky — politically and in terms of security.

In addition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the shock of the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008 added to America's difficulties, undermining the foundation of the finance industry-driven U.S. economy. Although the glory days of the United States appear to have passed, it still ranks as the No. 1 world power.

In this uneasy age, Japan needs to correctly analyze the surroundings in which it finds itself and build diplomacy that will help the country steer through an opaque world.

同時多発テロから9年、世界は安全保障と経済の安定を得られぬまま、不安が広がっている。

テロ直後にブッシュ政権は武装テロ組織アルカイダの拠点を破壊するためアフガニスタンでの戦闘を始めたが、米国は同国に民主的中央政府を確立させるという目的を果たせていない。

それどころか戦いは激化しているようだ。2001年以降、連合軍兵士の死者は2千人、2006年以降のアフガニスタン市民の死亡は7千人、年間1千億ドルが費やされているという。

テロはイスラム界における強い反米感情の表れだった。オバマ大統領はイスラム教徒との対話を試みているが、具体的な成果は出ていない。

アフガニスタンとイラクでの戦争に加え、リーマン･ショックは米経済に大打撃を与えた。日本は置かれている状況を正しくとらえ、先の見えない時代を生き抜くための外交策をとるべきだ。