The United States told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that “we hunted down” Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as the 15-nation body adopted its first presidential statement on counter-terrorism in five years on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The UNSC on Friday (September 11, 2026) held a briefing marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11, carried out by Al-Qaeda terrorists who crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Centre twin towers in 2001.
“Together, we hunted down bin Laden. Our coalition destroyed ISIS’s caliphate. We killed al-Baghdadi and al-Zawahiri,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said, referring to leaders of militant groups.
He made the remarks while speaking at the Security Council briefing titled ‘Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts’.
Sitting at the horseshoe UNSC table as the U.S. envoy made the remarks was Pakistan, which currently sits in the Security Council as a non-permanent member and whose two-year term will end in December this year.
The 9/11 terror attacks were orchestrated by bin Laden, who was hiding in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad and was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in a raid in May 2011.
In his remarks, Mr. Waltz listed the major terror attacks that have taken place in the countries making up the 15-nation UNSC.
“Colleagues, as I look around the table, everyone in this room, all on this Council, from Latvia to Liberia, everyone has lost men and women in uniform confronting terrorism in the years since. So, for most of you, September 11 is sadly not the only terror attack in your national memory. We should take stock of that. We should remember that,” Mr. Waltz said.
The U.S. envoy listed the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in Pakistan that killed about 130 children and the July 7, 2005, London bombings.
The UNSC also adopted a presidential statement which reaffirmed its “unequivocal condemnation” of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, Arlington (Virginia) and Pennsylvania.
The statement is the UNSC’s first presidential statement on counter-terrorism in five years.
It condemned all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, in all their forms and manifestations, wherever, whenever and by whomever committed them.
It said the UNSC remains determined to contribute further to enhancing the effectiveness of the overall effort to fight this scourge on a global level.
The UNSC also stressed that acts of international terrorism are contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, as are the financing, planning and preparation of, as well as any other form of support for it.
“The Security Council reaffirms that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or group,” the statement said.
Before this, the UNSC had adopted a presidential statement in 2021, marking the 20th anniversary of resolution 1373, which had established the UN Counter Terrorism Committee.
Through the presidential statement, UNSC members expressed concern about the continued presence of terrorist groups associated with ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and their affiliates across the world, which continue to pose a threat to international peace and security.
Speaking at the briefing, Pakistan’s UN envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, however, underscored his country’s contribution in the global fight against terror.
“The terrorism threat in various geographical regions, such as in Africa…in the Middle East, and in our own neighbourhood in Afghanistan, is deeply worrying,” Mr. Ahmad said.
“More than 4,700 innocent Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorism emanating from Afghanistan over the last three years. We have faced some of the most callous terrorist attacks carried out by savage entities like TTP, the BLA, and its Majeed Brigade, which continue to operate with impunity from sanctuaries in Afghanistan with significant external support,” he said.
Published – September 12, 2026 01:17 pm IST
