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Two decades after 9/11, Saudi Arabia seeks softer image
Women can drive and cinemas have reopened in the "new" Saudi Arabia under crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, among many modernising reforms that some believe can be linked to the trauma of 9/11.
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Saudi Minister of Communication and Information Technolgy Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha, speaks during the launching event of a number of regional technological initiatives in the capital Riyadh, with a budget surpassing 4 billion riyals, in partnerships with 10 of giant tech companies around the globe, on August 25, 2021. (AFP/Fayez Nureldine)
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wo decades after Saudi Arabian militants masterminded and carried out the September 11 attacks, the desert kingdom is striving for change in a reform drive aimed at updating its ultra-conservative image.
Women can drive and cinemas have reopened in the "new" Saudi Arabia under crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, among many modernising reforms that some believe can be linked to the trauma of 9/11.
The initiatives are "one of the long-term consequences" of the worst terrorist attack on US soil, Yasmine Farouk of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told AFP.
Fifteen Saudis were among the 19 hijackers in the plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which left nearly 3,000 dead and were plotted by Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The kingdom, a long-time American ally, denied any involvement but faced harsh US rhetoric over its social and education systems that critics said promoted extremism.
More pressure could follow in the coming months after US President Joe Biden ordered the declassification of secret documents from a US investigation into the attacks.
Biden was responding to pressure from families of some of those killed on 9/11 who have long argued that the classified documents may contain evidence that the Saudi government had links to the hijackers.
