The first 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks was marked by a message from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, disseminated on social media.
In his post, Mark Rutte stated that NATO "honors the memory of all those who lost their lives" that day, in a direct reference to the nearly three thousand victims of the terrorist attacks carried out by the Al-Qaeda organization against the United States.
The top NATO official also emphasized that military allies continue to stand alongside the United States, as they did in the immediate aftermath of the attacks 25 years ago, when Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty was activated for the first time, which considers an attack on one ally as an attack on all.
This statement comes at a moment of reflection on the lasting impact of the 2001 attacks, which led to two decades of military operations in Afghanistan and a significant reconfiguration of international security policies.
