On 20th 9/11 anniversary, Biden's message of 'unity'

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks on the US, President Joe Biden came out with a message of unity for the nation. "20 years after September 11, 2001, we commemorate the 2,977 lives we lost and honor those who risked and gave their lives. As we saw in the days that followed, unity is our greatest strength. It is what makes us who we are—and we can’t forget that," he tweeted in a video message. In the video, he stated that "at our most vulnerable, in the push and pull of all that makes us human, in the battle for the soul of America, unity is our greatest strength".

On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York City were destroyed by a pair of Boeing 767 passenger jets flown by Al-Qaeda hijackers. Post the attack, multiple incidents of violence were reported against Sikh and Muslim civilians in the United States. The country was fraught along racial lines. 

This 9/11 anniversary comes little more than two weeks after a suicide bomber in Kabul killed 13 US service members as the military concluded its withdrawal from Afghanistan. And as Afghanistan returns to Taliban rule, there are fresh concerns that the country could again be a launching pad for attacks that Biden's government will be charged with preventing.

The president will commemorate the solemn anniversary on Saturday by paying his respects at the trio of sites where the hijacked planes struck, puncturing the United States' air of invincibility and resulting in the deaths of 3,000 Americans.

First will be a stop in New York City, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were toppled as a horrified world watched on television. Then, a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a plane fell from the sky after heroic passengers fought terrorists to prevent it from reaching its Washington destination. And finally, the Pentagon, where the world's mightiest military suffered an unthinkable blow to its very home.