NYC, Pentagon events honor victims 20 years later

NEW YORK — Solemn crowds around the country gathered in silence Saturday for the 20th time to remember the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that forever changed the nation.

Bells tolled to signify the moments each tower of the World Trade Center was hit 20 years ago. Family members clutched photos of loved ones and wiped tears from one another’s eyes. In New York City, twin beams of light reached 4 miles into the sky in a haunting reminder of where the towers once stood.

Ceremonies were held Saturday in New York City, at the Pentagon and outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to honor the dead.

As survivors, politicians, first responders and loved ones of those who died reflected on the anniversary, many praised the unity Americans showed and highlighted the importance of passing on the memory of the day to those too young to remember it.

Former President George W. Bush recalled the unity and strength Americans showed 20 years ago, urging the country to put aside political views to come together again today. 

“So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment,” Bush said at a private ceremony for family of those killed when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

“On America’s day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab their neighbor’s hand and rally to the cause of one another.”

Bush, who was in office at

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2 substantial profile ISIS targets killed in U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan, Pentagon states

Two substantial profile Islamic Point out group targets ended up killed and a single was wounded when U.S. army forces carried out a drone strike on Friday in Afghanistan, the Pentagon explained Saturday.

The strike in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan was clear retaliation against those people who claimed obligation for the assault exterior Kabul’s airport.

“We know of zero civilian casualties,” Military Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor explained. “With no specifying any upcoming plans, I will say that we will carry on to have the ability to protect ourselves and to leverage over-the-horizon capacity to conduct counterterrorism operations as essential.”

ISIS-K, known as Islamic State Khorasan, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s “martyrdom attack” that associated a suicide bomber who detonated an explosive belt at the airport’s gate, killing 13 U.S. company associates and a lot more than 110 Afghans. Much more than 100 were being wounded in the blasts.

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A resident of the Nangarhar advised NBC Information on Saturday they “heard a major explosion in the center of the night time.” The man or woman who did not would like to be named for concern of reprisals added that they imagined “an individual experienced fired rocket on our property, but we then found drones hovering more than the spot.”

Biden experienced vowed in a Thursday speech that the U.S. would answer to the assaults “with pressure.”

“To people who carried out this assault, as nicely as any person who wishes

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Afghanistan live updates: Pentagon – drone strike kills ISIS-K planner

The U.S. military launched a drone strike against ISIS-K in retaliation for the deadly bombing at the Kabul airport, the Pentagon said Friday.

Just before the Pentagon announced the strike, the State Department issued a fresh alert, telling Americans at four Kabul airport gates to “leave immediately.”

Earlier Friday, the Pentagon warned that specific, credible terrorist threats from ISIS-K to U.S. troops and civilians fleeing Afghanistan after Thursday’s devastating Kabul airport attack, which killed 13 American service members and at least 169 Afghan civilians.

President Joe Biden has vowed retaliation against ISIS-K. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said hours after Thursday’s bombing at the Kabul airport.

Details also began emerging on the 13 service members killed in Thursday’s bombing near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, at least some of whom were only babies and toddlers on September 11, 2001. Evacuations of Americans and their allies restarted, an effort to get out as many civilians ahead of the military’s withdrawal, just four days away.

A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the military airport in Kabul on Aug. 27, 2021, as the Pentagon said the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan still faces more possible attacks like the bombing that killed scores of people outside the Kabul airport.

How it happened:Satellite images, graphics, and maps show how fatal airport, hotel explosions ripped through Kabul

US military strike targets ISIS-K planner

A military strike Friday targeted an ISIS-K planner in a drone attack, the first American attack on the terrorist group following Thursday’s bomb attack in Kabul, the Pentagon announced.

“U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner,” Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement. “The unmanned airstrike occurred 

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Covid-19 Updates: F.D.A.’s Vaccine Approval Leads Pentagon and Others to Add Requirements

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Pentagon to Require Vaccinations for Active-Duty Troops

Following the Food and Drug Administration’s final approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, Pentagon officials said they were working on a timeline for requiring vaccinations for all active-duty service members.

The F.D.A. approved full licensure of the Pfizer vaccine this morning and has also, I’m sure you’re aware, back in August on the 9th, the secretary articulated that it was his intent to mandate Covid-19 vaccines upon F.D.A. licensure or by mid-September to seek a waiver from the president. So now that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved, the department is prepared to issue updated guidance requiring all service members to be vaccinated. A timeline for vaccination completion will be provided in the coming days. The health of the force is, as always, of our military and our civilian employees, families and communities is a top priority, and so it is important to remind everyone that these efforts ensure the safety of our service members and promote the readiness of our force, not to mention the health and safety of the communities around the country in which we live. We’re preparing now actionable guidance to the force we’re going to move forward making that vaccine mandatory. We’re preparing the guidance to the force right now, and that the actual completion date of it, in other words, how fast we want to see it get done, we’re working through that guidance right now.

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ISIS terrorist threats jeopardize Afghanistan evacuation, Pentagon assessment warns

The window for the evacuation is narrowing because of to the new threats, the evaluation suggests, a likely determination for the military services to wrap up its procedure by the conclusion of the 7 days, a person of the sources claimed.

Protection Office officers advised congressional staffers on Tuesday that they are trying to mitigate the threats as best as feasible, according to 1 resource. Yet another U.S. defense official claimed gates at the airport have been closed since of the stability menace.

“The U.S. has been transparent that there is an lively and continuing danger from ISIS. That mentioned, the U.S. army can go on our mission at HKIA as very long as we are requested to be there, and we are not likely to shut down the mission in reaction to a risk from ISIS,” explained U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Invoice City. “We carry on to be terribly vigilant in regard to this ongoing menace and will choose all actions needed to defend our forces and the evacuees, as we continue the mission.“

Given that Sunday, the U.S. has directed American citizens and environmentally friendly card holders to the Ministry of Interior so they can be escorted to the airport, the defense official and a human being acquainted instructed POLITICO.

“It worked wonderful on Sunday,” stated the protection formal. “Monday was a mixed bag and a great deal of green card holders didn’t get via. Right now, obviously, U.S. citizens are acquiring a challenging time getting via,”

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