How Shockwaves Of 9/11 Changed The World

Two weeks after the September 11 atrocity, the-then Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a 55-minute speech to the Labour Party conference.

Towards the end he came out with its most memorable phrase: "This is a moment to seize.

"The kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again.Before they do, let us re-order this world around us."

Both he and President George Bush wanted to re-order the world, but so did other actors on the stage; from reluctant allies, to terror groups, to hostile nation states.

Ten years on the pieces have still not settled.

The road from 9/11 led first to Afghanistan.

The Taliban were overthrown and more than 100,000 foreign troops arrived to help build a nation.

A decade on the Taliban are back, the nation has not been built, and Afghanistan looks as if it will continue to be convulsed by violence.

The chaos in Afghanistan has destabilised Pakistan. The Americans strong armed Islamabad into joining the War On Terror.

The US troops were to be the hammer which would smash the Taliban and al Qaeda against the anvil of Pakistan.

Instead the anvil was a sponge, but the action the Pakistani army did take, combined with the US drone strikes, resulted in the Pakistan Taliban reacting by extending their reach right across the country with a bombing campaign.

The latest attack was days ago, in Quetta. Twenty people died.

The shockwaves of 9/11 blew into Iraq. Saddam Hussein's genocidal regime was overturned - but so was the regional power balance.

The Iranians fuelled the insurgency with weapons and training.

The British left, the Americans are leaving, and a Shia Muslim-dominated government now has good relations with Shia Iran.

The Iranians' 1,000-year dream of safeguarding their Western flank has come true. Now they can move on.

A truly global impact of 9/11 is on the way we travel. Transport in the developed world was affected, with whole security systems having to be upgraded at enormous cost.

There are other changes: the way some people view the USA and the nervousness that lurks at the back of peoples minds on certain dates in certain places.

There was also a change in that the non-Muslim world and the Islamic countries learned to learn more about each other.

That too is an ongoing process.