Ground Zero(66)

The Taliban’s strict religious laws and hatred of outsiders were a perfect fit for al Qaeda, and in 1996 Osama bin Laden moved his headquarters and training camps there. When evidence pointed to al Qaeda as the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, the United States demanded that Afghanistan’s Taliban government close every terrorist camp in the country and hand over bin Laden. When the Taliban refused, the United States invaded Afghanistan, joined by a coalition of countries that included the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany. Relying heavily on anti-Taliban Afghan rebels on the ground and superior international air power, the United States and its allies swept to a quick and easy victory by December 2001, defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda without the loss of a single American life.

But Osama bin Laden remained elusive, slipping away across the border into Pakistan before he could be captured. It took another ten years, but bin Laden was eventually found in a compound in Pakistan in 2011 by a team of Navy SEALs. They shot and killed bin Laden, then dumped his body at sea.





In 2004, Afghanistan formed a new, democratically elected government supported by the US and its allies. The change in leadership has brought more freedom for women and girls, better health care, and better education. But life in Afghanistan is still difficult. Almost half the population lives below the poverty line, making it the second poorest country in the world. Less than 15 percent of Afghanistan’s land can support farming, and roughly 35 percent of the population does not have access to clean drinking water. There are very few hospitals in Afghanistan, and Afghan doctors often lack proper training and equipment. Life expectancy at birth is among the lowest of any country.

The Taliban, defeated but not eliminated, has continued its fight against the new Afghan government and its Western allies. Since the beginning of the war, almost 2,500 American soldiers have died, and more than 22,000 more have been wounded. By contrast, more than 65,000 members of the Afghan National Army (the US’s allies in Afghanistan) have died, and an estimated 70,000 Taliban insurgents have been killed. Even more striking, more than 40,000 Afghan civilians have died—that we know of. According to the United Nations, 2018 was the single deadliest year for civilians in Afghanistan in a decade. And not all civilian deaths are caused by the Taliban. In 2019, the United States and their Afghan allies accounted for 29 percent of all civilian casualties, 30 percent of which were children.

To escape the fighting, many Afghans choose to flee over the border into neighboring countries, like Pakistan and Iran. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, 2.7 million of the world’s 25.9 million refugees in 2019 came from Afghanistan, ranking second only to Syria. Half a million Afghans qualify as internally displaced persons—people who were forced by war to abandon their homes and now live in makeshift refugee camps in their own country.

Though US combat operations in Afghanistan officially ended in 2014, thousands of American soldiers remain in the country to train, advise, and assist the Afghan military. On-again, off-again negotiations between the US and the Taliban have promised an end to the fighting, but no end has come. The War in Afghanistan is now officially the longest war in US history.

Life in America has also changed a great deal since 9/11. Shortly after the attacks, police and rescue workers from all across the country went to New York City to help search for survivors at Ground Zero, and blood donations increased. Unfortunately, hate crimes also rose sharply. Many Muslims and South Asians reported harassment, and mosques and Muslim businesses were vandalized and set on fire.

In the months and years that followed 9/11, a number of American rights and privacies were curtailed or lost in the name of safety. The Patriot Act, enacted in October 2001, gave law enforcement agencies the freedom to search homes and businesses, read private emails, and listen in on phone calls, all without having to get permission from a judge. Airline travel has changed too; thanks to the newly created Transportation Security Administration (TSA), passengers traveling by plane now face carry-on restrictions, complicated screenings, and invasive pat-downs.

Nearly twenty years after 9/11, the United States remains in a national state of emergency. The World Trade Center was rebuilt, with the new One World Trade Center building officially replacing the Twin Towers in 2014. The building’s height—1,776 feet—commemorates the year the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, opened in 2011, is nearby. Two square reflecting pools sunk into the ground mark the outlines of where the Twin Towers once stood, and museum buildings house artifacts recovered from the wreckage, including twisted steel beams, damaged stairs, and parts of the hijacked airplanes. Today the memorial and museum receive nearly ten million visitors a year.

Though I thought I was ready to confront my own memories and emotions from 9/11, Ground Zero proved to be one of the most emotionally difficult books I’ve written. 2021 will mark the twenty-year anniversary of 9/11. Will it also mark the twenty-year anniversary of the War in Afghanistan? Time will tell.

One way or another, we still live in a world reshaped and redefined by what happened in those 102 frightful minutes on a bright blue September morning in 2001. And I believe it’s more important than ever for new generations to understand how we got from there to where we are today.

Alan Gratz

May 2020





Huge thanks to my amazing editor, Aimee Friedman, who first suggested I tackle a book about 9/11 and helped me figure things out every step of the way. Thanks too to my ever-supportive publisher, David Levithan; to copy editor Shari Joffe and proofreaders Jody Corbett, Jackie Hornberger, and Jessica White; and everyone behind the scenes at Scholastic: Ellie Berger, president of trade publishing; Lauren Donovan in publicity; Erin Berger, Rachel Feld, and Julia Eisler in marketing; Lizette Serrano, Emily Heddleson, Michael Strouse, Matthew Poulter, and Danielle Yadao in school and library marketing and conventions; Aimee’s associate editor, Olivia Valcarce; Josh Berlowitz, Elizabeth Krych, Erin O’Connor, Leslie Garych, JoAnne Mojica, and everyone in production; Yaffa Jaskoll for the terrific cover and interior layout; map artist Jim McMahon; Jazan Higgins, Stephanie Peitz, Jana Haussmann, Kristin Standley, Robin Hoffman, and everyone with the clubs and fairs; Jennifer Powell and her team in rights and co-editions; Alan Smagler, Elizabeth Whiting, Jackie Rubin, Savannah D’Amico, Dan Moser, Nikki Mutch, Sue Flynn, Chris Satterlund, Roz Hilden, Terribeth Smith, Randy Kessler, Betsy Politi, and everyone in sales; Lori Benton, John Pels, and Paul Gagne for their amazing work, as ever, on Ground Zero the audiobook; and all the sales reps and fairs and clubs reps across the country who work so hard to tell the world about my books.