United States invasion of Afghanistan
On the morning of 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda carried out four coordinated attacks on the United States. Four commercial passenger jet airliners were hijacked. The hijackers – members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell – intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both buildings collapsed within two hours from fire damage related to the crashes, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target the White House or the United States Capitol. No flights had survivors. In total, 2,996 people, including the 19 hijackers, died and more than 6,000 others injured in the attacks. According to the New York State Health Department, 836 first responders, including firefighters and police personnel, had died as of June 2009.
2010 Times Square car bombing attempt
Al-Awlaki was known among other things for having spoken with three of the September 11 hijackers in 2001, for having exchanged dozens of emails with the suspected Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, he is believed to have met with Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab during his training by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and for militant English-language online lectures and writings with violent rhetoric were a catalyst for a number of attacks. "The New York Times" described al-Awlaki as "perhaps the most prominent English-speaking advocate of violent jihad against the United States." Al-Awlaki was the first U.S. citizen killed by the CIA under a presidential decree.