In 2001, the US was on the path to an era of peace and prosperity. What would the world be like today if 9/11 had never happened?

Prior to 9/11, the wars in Vietnam and Korea were decades in the past, and the US had already left Somalia and Serbia. The US had just avoided war with China when a Chinese fighter jet crashed into an American spy plane. The dot-com bubble had recently popped, but there was no recession and the stock market quickly recovered to pre-bust levels. The US had just avoided a potential war with Iraq, when Clinton bombed Iraqi anti-aircraft missile sites in 1998, in response to the discovery of WMDs. Clinton also bombed Serbia and Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan and Sudan.<br><br>Bill Clinton had just left office and handed over power to George W. Bush. George W. Bush was a son of a former president and won the election despite losing the popular vote and winning the electoral college by a narrow margin due to the disputed Florida vote.<br><br>The US had a budget surplus and was projected to pay off its national debt around the time 9/11 happened. By 2023, the national debt would have been paid off for 20 years. The US had recently ended a costly trade war with China.<br><br>It was a time of great technological progress. Broadband internet was widely available. Cell phones had begun to widely adopt internet browsing. Wikipedia and Google were just starting to become available. DVDs had just been introduced and were becoming extremely popular. Commercial TiVo and other DVR devices were just becoming available. The first Harry Potter movie was released in 2001.<br><br>Now for the point of this topic, imagine 9/11 never happened. What would the world be like today? The first thing that comes to mind to me is the US would have a much smaller national debt. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which were in response to 9/11, contributed significantly to the national debt. I would imagine the US would currently have a budget surplus and no national debt. The wars also caused the Bush administration to cut taxes to stimulate the economy and help it recover from the 2008 recession. Without these wars, I would imagine the Bush tax cuts would not have happened and the economy may not have recovered as quickly as it did.<br><br>Another possibility is that the US would have expanded into space much more quickly. President Bush said that he wanted to build a moon base, that would eventually be used to launch missions to Mars.<br><br>The Iraq war destabilized to Middle East, and without the war, Syria and Libya would likely still be governed by Bashar al-Assad and Muammar Gaddafi. The US may have been able to maintain a more stable relationship with Saddam Hussein. The US may have been more able to negotiate a Middle East peace treaty between Israel and Palestine. Without the destabilization of Iraq, Iran would not have been able to build influence in Iraq and its proxies in Iraq would not have been bombing US troops stationed in Iraq. It may have been more possible for the US to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. The Obama administration was able to negotiate a nuclear deal, but the deal was widely criticized and may have been more likely to fail without the US being at war in Iraq. Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and the deal has been widely regarded as a failure.<br><br>The wars also caused an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the US, and contributed to Islamophobia. The wars also contributed to the Iraq refugee crisis, and caused the US to accept fewer Syrian refugees out of fear that they may be associated with terrorist groups. This caused Trump to impose a Muslim ban and travel ban, and to increase scrutiny of immigrants who were from countries where terrorist organizations were known to operate. Without the wars, the US may have been able to accept more refugees and immigrants.<br><br>The wars also changed the US's relationship with Russia. Prior to 9/11, the US and Russia were not enemies. The US was in a position of great power and may have been able to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine. Without the US's involvement in the wars, the US would have been more able to pressure Russia to not invade Ukraine, and would have been more able to help Ukraine's efforts to defend itself in the war. According to the Washington Post, the US is involved in a proxy war with Russia through Ukraine. The US has been providing billions of dollars worth of aid to Ukraine in its efforts to defend itself. The US and Russia also have a much worse relationship today than they did in 2001. The US and Russia have been in a nuclear arms race since the Trump administration withdrew from the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty in 2019.<br><br>The wars also caused the US to close several military bases in Saudi Arabia and caused the US to attempt to open relations with Iran. Since 9/11, the US has repeatedly bombed Iraq, as well as other countries in the Middle East. This has caused countries in the Middle East to not trust the US and has caused the US to be seen as a destabilizing force in the region. The wars may have also contributed to the decline of public trust in the US government. The US went to war in Iraq under the false pretenses that it was developing WMDs. The US also went to war in Afghanistan, under the false pretenses it was harboring terrorists. The US also went to war in Libya under the false pretenses that it was committing genocide.<br><br>The wars also caused the US to spy on its citizens and engage in mass surveillance, in order to identify terrorists. This would not have been a concern if 9/11 never happened. The US would have been better able to protect civil liberties and protect the privacy of its citizens.<br><br>In conclusion, the world would be completely different today if 9/11 never happened. I'm not sure that it would be better or worse, but I do not see how it could be worse. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were the longest in US history. The US would have been able to maintain a stronger relationship with China and Russia. It would not have destabilized the Middle East and allowed Iran and ISIS to build influence in the region. It would have allowed the US to maintain a strong influence in the Middle East and would have helped to promote peace in the region.