Ten years after 9/11

There is no question that the destruction of the World Trade Centre ten years ago dramatically changed the US behaviour on the global scale. Attacked for the first time ever on the mainland, US reacted with a ferocity, rage and military might that has changed international politics forever.
The US action, first against Afghanistan and then against Iraq, ushered in an era of blatant unilateralism where the UN was exploited to sanctify the political objective of the lone super power. The trend has unfortunately continued as one notices in the case of Libya.
And what about the success in the so-called war on terror? If by success one claims that there has been no major attack in mainland USA since then, then that is success of sorts. But an apparently safer America only does not naturally make for a safer world. Instead of curbing terrorism last ten years have witnessed rise of Islamic extremism in places where it was not seen before. Smaller religious groups have become more ideologically allied with the al-Qaeda with an anti-US sentiment. Regrettably too, while these extremists are in the minority, the majority of the Islamic world has been conspicuous by its silence.
Regrettably too, the focus of terror and anti-terror has shifted from the Middle East to South Asia, with the Afghan imbroglio assuming an unclear scenario. And that is what we in the South Asian region feel so apprehensive about.
Osama Laden is dead, and so are some of his close associates. But is terrorism dead? Can we vouch for certain that the underlying motivations that precipitated 9/11 are no longer valid. That the double standards of the West in dealing with the problems in the Middle East, the blind support for Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians, do not create resentment in many who have no other alternative but to resort to violence as a means of protest?