25 years since 9/11: Terror's new faces and India's evolving security challenges

Lessons from 9/11 attack remain unlearnt as terror networks evolve, use sophisticated recruitment and retain political utility, argues Shishir Gupta.

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks transformed the global security landscape, terrorism remains far from defeated. In a conversation with Senior Anchor Aayesha Varma on Point Blank, Hindustan Times Executive Editor Shishir Gupta argued that while the methods, networks and technologies used by terrorist groups have changed, the underlying political purpose of terrorism remains the same: to seize influence, spread fear and advance ideological goals through violence.

The discussion came against the backdrop of the approaching 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in which 2,977 people were killed after al-Qaeda hijackers weaponised commercial aircraft and struck the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. For many, 9/11 remains a deeply personal memory—not only of loss and horror, but also of the fear, racism and suspicion that followed, particularly affecting non-white communities in the United States in the aftermath of the brazen strikes.

Gupta’s central argument was that the world has not fully absorbed the lessons of 9/11. Terrorism may no longer dominate global headlines in the way it did during the “war on terror” era, but its networks have adapted, its recruitment methods have become more sophisticated, and its political utility for state and non-state actors persists.

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From 9/11 to a changing global threat

The 9/11 attacks were not an isolated event. They followed the September 9, 2001 assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the anti-Taliban commander in Afghanistan, by al-Qaeda operatives posing as journalists. Two days later, al-Qaeda carried out the attacks on the United States, pushing Washington into a war in Afghanistan aimed at dismantling the Taliban regime that had hosted Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

The consequences were immediate and global. Terrorism, Gupta said, was suddenly placed at the centre of international security thinking. Countries such as India, which had already faced years of cross-border terrorism in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere, found that the wider world was finally paying attention to a threat New Delhi had long highlighted.

Within months, India itself was targeted in the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament. Seven years later came the November 26, 2008, Mumbai attacks, in which Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists launched coordinated assaults across the city, killing more than 160 people.

But despite the post-9/11 global focus, the problem did not disappear. Instead, it fragmented. Large organisations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State continue to operate, directly or through affiliates. At the same time, terrorism has become more decentralised, with local cells, online recruits, lone attackers and loosely connected ideological networks replacing the rigid hierarchy of earlier militant organisations.

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Gupta pointed to militant activity in the Sahel and Maghreb regions of Africa, the continuing presence of al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Islamic State affiliates and Iranian-backed armed groups across West Asia. He also highlighted alliances that cut across sectarian divides, arguing that terrorism is often driven less by theology than by political power.

The result is a threat environment in which organisations with differing religious identities or regional goals can cooperate when their strategic interests align. In this view, terror is not merely a tactic of isolated extremist groups; it is also a tool deployed in wider struggles for influence, territory and political legitimacy.

India and Pakistan-based terror networks

For India, the most persistent concern remains Pakistan-based terrorism. Gupta said groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, al-Qaeda-linked organisations and Islamic State Khorasan Province continue to pose a danger, despite repeated crackdowns, international sanctions and Pakistan’s assurances of action against terror financing.

The central challenge, he argued, is that India remains a target for groups that view terrorism as a way to pursue Pakistan’s long-standing claims over Kashmir and to challenge India’s rise. The pattern has stretched across decades: separatist militancy in Punjab during the 1980s, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir through the 1990s, and high-profile attacks in Indian cities and institutions in subsequent years.