Throwback to 9/11: When fortress America was breached

Former defence attaché in Washington recalls the fateful day twin towers were attacked

ISLAMABAD: As the world commemorates the deadly attacks of September 11, 2001, and their legacy, The Express Tribune spoke to Brig (retd) Syed Mohammad Mujtaba, the then Pakistan defence attaché in Washington DC, to get an insight into the aftermath of the attacks.

On that Tuesday morning 14 years ago, Mujtaba was escorting then DG ISI Lt Gen Mahmood Ahmed during his visit to Washington at the CIA’s invitation. Mujtaba said that they, along with then Pakistani ambassador Maleeha Lodhi and deputy head of mission Zamir Akram, were at Capitol Hill meeting the chairpersons of the House and Senate intelligence committees. The US lawmakers had recently visited Pakistan and the meeting was a kind of follow-up.

He recalled that the two sides were discussing regional support against al-Qaeda, recent US embassy bombings in Africa had cast new light on the group ¬ among other things when Akram, who had stepped out of the meeting, returned with a chit in his hand and placed it in front of Mahmood.

Porter Goss, head of the US House Intelligence Committee, also received a similar note from one of his aides. After that Goss said out loud that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centre towers.

“It became clear to me then, and probably most of us there, that this was no accident,” recalls Mujtaba. As news came of more planes-turned-weapons being in the air, the Capitol Hill was evacuated being a potential target. Heading out with the ISI chief, Goss said to the Pakistani delegation, “We’ll need your help now more than ever.”

Answering whether Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf made the right choice in supporting the US, Mujtaba said it was the only choice. “There was no way Pakistan could be seen as supporting terrorists,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th,  2015.

In an earlier version of the article, Brig (retd) Syed Mohammad Mujtaba was written as Asad Mujtaba. The error has been corrected and is regretted.