Donald Trump vows to step up fight against Taliban at 9/11 ceremony

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his promise to intensify the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, as he marked the 18th anniversary of the September 11 attacks at a ceremony at the Pentagon.

"Over the past four days, we've hit our enemy harder than ever before, and that will continue," Trump said at the ceremony that recalled the attacks that sparked the war in Afghanistan.

Referring to the attack in Kabul that cost the life of a US soldier and which led him to cancel a secret meeting with the Taliban, Trump said that they wanted to show their strength, but in fact they showed their weakness.

At the ceremony in question, Trump laid a wreath at the Pentagon and told the victims' families: "This is the anniversary of your personal and enduring pain."

The US marked this Wednesday, 11, the date with several solemn ceremonies, 18 years after the deadliest terrorist attacks that occurred on US soil.

A crowd of relatives of the victims gathered at 'ground zero', where the ceremony began with a moment of silence and bells ringing at 08:46 (local time, 11:46 in Cape Verde) – the moment when a plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center building in New York.

While Trump participated in the ceremony at the Pentagon, hit by one of the hijacked planes, the vice president, Mike Pence, participated, in turn, in the ceremony at the third site of the attack, near Shanksville, in the state of Pennsylvania.

Former President George W. Bush, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the time of the 2001 attacks, attended in the afternoon to lay a wreath of flowers at the Pentagon.

The country is still facing the consequences of September 11th, whether in the country, with reinforced security at airports, or abroad, namely with the war in Afghanistan, where there is a large contingent of US troops.

The ceremonies focus on honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed when planes hijacked by terrorists hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001.

All the victims' names were read aloud at the ceremonies at 'ground zero' (where the World Trade Center buildings were located).

However, there has been a growing awareness of the plight of another group: firefighters, police and others who became ill or died after exposure to debris and toxins released from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

A compensation fund for victims with health problems potentially related to 9/11 has, to date, awarded more than $5.5 billion. More than 51,000 people signed up for this initiative.

After years of legislative stalemate, the US Congress assured this summer that the fund will not run out of funds.

Donald Trump, a Republican and New Yorker who was in the city on the day of the attack, signed the measure in July.

The sick gained new recognition this year at the memorial plaza, 'on ground zero', where the new '9/11 Memorial Glade' honors post-attack victims.

The tribute features six large granite piles inlaid with steel salvaged from the World Trade Center, with a dedication: "To those whose actions in our time of need led to injury, illness and death."

The United States and representatives of the Taliban, who control a significant part of Afghan territory, have been in contact for over a year in the context of negotiations taking place in Qatar.

Essentially, the negotiations are intended to put an end to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and a provisional document was recently released that provides for the withdrawal of five thousand US troops within a period of 135 days.

The President of the United States canceled on Sunday a secret meeting that was going to bring together high commands of the Taliban forces and the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani.

Trump canceled the meeting after an attack that killed 12 people, including a US soldier, last Thursday in Kabul.

Inforpress/Lusa/end