NEW YORK – President Joe Biden will visit the three September 11 memorial sites to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people who died that day.
Biden will visit ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was shot down, the White House said Saturday. He will be accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden.
Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a separate event before joining the president at the Pentagon, the White House said. Harris will be traveling with his spouse, Doug Emhoff.
Biden’s itinerary is similar to the one that President Barack Obama followed in 2011 on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Obama’s visit to New York City coincided with the unveiling of a monument where the iconic World Trade Center towers once stood.
The anniversary of next Saturday is celebrated less than two weeks after the end of the nearly two-decade American war in Afghanistan. The war began weeks after the 9/11 attacks to retaliate against Al Qaeda conspirators and the Taliban, who provided them safe haven.
Biden has found public support to end the conflict, but has faced strong criticism, including from allies, for the chaotic evacuation of US and Afghan allied troops during the last two weeks of August.
Biden on Friday led the declassification of certain documents related to the 9/11 attacks. in a gesture to the families of the victims who have long searched the records in hopes of implicating the Saudi government.
The conflict between the government and families over what classified information could be made public came to light last month after many family members, survivors and first responders said they would object to Biden’s participation in the 9/11 commemorative events if the documents remained. classified.
Watch here the special coverage of Telemundo 47 of the Twentieth Anniversary of September 11.
______________________________
AP’s Superville reported from Wilmington, Delaware.
– .
