The inside story
This page contains a selection of highlights from The Observer's in-depth analysis and narratives investigating the key moments of the post-September 11th crisis.
War on Terrorism: Observer special
Observer War in Afghanistan special
Terrorism Crisis: Comment in full
Terrorism Crisis: View from America
Islam and the West
Liberty Watch campaign
Observer Worldview
Kabul blooms as war recedes
Afghanistan's stricken capital has burst back into life and its streets are now filled with signs of returning prosperity.
The path to destruction
In his latest online Afghanistan dispatch, Jason Burke returns to Buddha-less Bamiyan and reflects on how the Taliban's act of cultural destruction marked a turning-point for the regime.
Return to Islamabad
Jason Burke's terrorism dispatch. In the first of a new online series, The Observer's Chief Reporter finds that much has changed on the Afghan-Pakistan border. But, beneath the surface, al-Qaeda's fugitives are plotting their next moves.
Marines are 'psyched' and 'desperate' to begin battle
Jason Burke meets British troops at their Afghan base as they prepare for the next contact with the remnants of al-Qaeda.
Bin Laden mastermind 'still hiding in Britain'
A radical Muslim cleric named as Osama bin Laden's 'European ambassador' who is wanted for questioning in several countries is still on the run in Britain, say senior Islamic and police sources.
Britain's most wanted
How was the terrorist hunted for plotting attacks across Europe allowed to disappear in the UK?
How the perfect terrorist plotted the ultimate crime
Jason Burke traces the career of Abu Zubaydah, the young henchman of al-Qaeda's leader, whose arrest brought jubilation to the CIA.
$100,000 bounty on Westerners
Islamist guerrillas hope to stir a new jihad in Afghanistan by offering huge rewards for the kidnapping and assassination of Westerners.
9/11 Six months on: special issue in full
Bin Laden's men wait to take bloody revenge
Al-Qaeda may have lost its Afghan power base but it has survived as a deadly threat. Jason Burke investigates the danger posed by cells of extremists across the world trained to kill for Islam.
Timeline: 6 months that changed the world
The key moments, month by month, plus an anthology selecting the best Observer analysis and comment from each month.
America gears up for a new kind of war
From Iraq to Colombia to the Philippines, the US will open more fronts in the battle against terrorism whether allies agree or not, writes Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor.
Mark Leonard: Why America isn't listening
Outrage as Pentagon nuclear hitlist revealed
Battle for Gardez
The inside story of the bloodiest battle of the Afghanistan war.
Armed to the teeth
Is Bush's awesome increase in military spending a reasonable response to the afermath of September 11, or is he creating a force almost too powerful for its own good? Peter Beaumont and Ed Vulliamy report.
AK-47 training held at London mosque
British Islamic extremists have been involved in weapons training with assault rifles at a mosque in London, intelligence sources have told The Observer.
Terror video used to lure UK Muslims
'You have to kill in the name of Allah until you are killed'
How bin Laden network spread its tentacles
The making of a human timebomb
Islam gave Richard Reid a chance to abandon crime. Then fanatics made him a terrorist, and he tried to blow up a jet with explosive packed in his shoes. His story may become familiar: there are a lot more like him.
MI5 blunders over bomber
Afghanistan's past haunts the rebirth of a nation
Peter Beaumont reports from Kabul on how the voice of a dead man is still heard as Hamid Karzai begins his monumental task.
Warlords hear Karzai vow to build an era of peace
Normal service returns with sex on the telly
In the Khalid restaurant the mujahideen are eating chicken and bread, gulping down mouthfuls of green tea. They are also watching a soft porn film on satellite TV.
Tyranny of veil is slow to lift
Fear of being the first to take off the burqa is keeping most women covered up, reports Peter Beaumont in Kabul.
The rout of the Taliban
Six weeks of bombing. A week of battles across Afghanistan. Now the Taliban appear crushed, brutally swept from their prized strongholds. Here we reveal the secret US and British plans that led to last week's astonishing military campaign.
The rout of the Taliban. Part two
Unfinished Business
It has been a war fought like no other - hi-tech, brutally one-sided, breathtakingly rapid. It will revolutionise the way we think about conflict.
Secret US plan for Iraq war
David Mack: Iraq after Saddam
David Rose: The case for tough action against Iraq
Will Iraq be next? What the experts say
Hundreds of troops dozed in the sun. These were the Taliban elite
Luke Harding in Kundoz meets the surrendering remnants of a utopian movement facing the end.
Al-Qaeda's trail of terror
As the Taliban and their supporters fled Kabul, they left behind a mass of papers providing the strongest evidence yet to link al-Qaeda to the attacks of 11 September.
Kabul paper trail damns al-Qaeda
Suddenly, he was gone
Osama bin Laden, the hated quarry of the United States, has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. Now it may be too late to scent his trail.
The Chase
Al-Qaeda loses itself in dream world
The making of the world's most wanted man
How did a rich Saudi boy become a terrorist mastermind? Afghanistan specialist Jason Burke draws on months of interviews and startling new evidence from former Al-Qaeda associates to present the fullest account yet of Osama bin Laden's life. (Oct 28)
The making of the world's most wanted man: Part 2
Bin Laden and son: the grooming of a dynasty
The network of family and trusted Lieutenants of Osama bin Laden who may be prepared to step into his shoes. (Sept 23)
US special forces kill 20 in fierce Afghan firefight
· Bin Laden's hideout targeted · Two airmen die in helicopter crash
Elite US Rangers storm mullah's mountain fort
Old-fashioned raids pave way for new kind of fighting
Desperate call from the valley of death: 'Help us...'
Jason Burke in Peshawar on the capture and execution of anti-Taliban warrior Abdul Haq. (Oct 28)
Blair rallies Britain as war nerves fray
Iraq warns West against 'unjust' attack
Leader: Honesty is the best policy
The Gamble
A week of bombs... a defiant Taliban. An uneasy coalition .. an anxious US. And still bin Laden taunts the West. The inside story of a week of bombs and diplomacy. (Oct 14)
The Gamble: part two
Attackers did not know they were to die
'You can't talk... you've got to go and beat them'
Exclusive interview: Kamal Ahmed, political editor, talks to Prime Minister Tony Blair. (Oct 14)
Blair on the war: the Observer interview in full
The roots of Islamic anger
Peter Beaumont in Nablus: What fuels the rage against the west? (Oct 14)
Kanan Makiya: Fighting Islam's Ku Klux Klan (Oct 7)
Zia Sardar: Islam has become its own enemy (Oct 21)
The view from the mosque: they're demonising Islam
Islam and the West Observer special
Leader: After a just war, a just resolution
The bombing of Afghanistan has cost hundreds of civilian lives, say the Taliban. Even if their claims are exaggerated, any loss of life is deplorable and unacceptable.
Henry Porter: Why we are right to fight
Outbreak: who is terrorising America with anthrax?
Ed Vulliamy and Ed Helmore in New York on how bio-warfare crossed the rubicon of terrorism (Oct 21)
The killer that comes in the post (Oct 14)
The noose tightens
They had Osama bin Laden in their sights, then lost him. With an air strike postponed, the US and Britain shored up the coalition, criss-crossing the Himalayas and cajoling waverers - while in Kabul the Taliban began to force young men into militias. (Oct 7)
It's time for war, Bush and Blair tell Taliban
Putting a price on peace
Blair's 55 minutes of talking could cost Britain billions, writes Jay Rayner.(Sept 30)
Andrew Rawnsley: Missionary Tony and his Holy British Empire
The march to the brink of battle
As rumour and tension swept Pakistan and clerics debated in Kabul, Bush and Blair steadied a coalition of unlikely allies. (Sept 23)
The march to the brink of battle pt 2
The secret war
A matrix of terrorist cells - allied to bin Laden but often more extreme than him - planned mayhem across the continent from bases in Britain, Spain, Germany and France. Only now are the links between these shadowy groups coming to light as intelligence services realise that, unknown to them, the battle had started long before 11 September. (Sept 30)
The secret war. Part 2
London-based terror chief plotted mayhem in Europe
Resentful west spurned Sudan's key terror files
Security chiefs on both sides of the Atlantic repeatedly turned down the chance to acquire a vast intelligence database on Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the 11 September attacks. (Sept 30)
Nick Cohen: The name's Blunder (Oct 21)
MI6 looks to recruit from minorities (Oct 7)
CIA gets go-ahead for a return to murderous Cold War tactics (Sept 23)
Spy chiefs call for new rules and money to stop terrorists (Sept 16)
Mission implausible: the failures of Stella Rimington (Sept 16)
The shy, caring, deadly fanatic
While he was visiting the Syrian town of Aleppo in late 1994 and early 1995, Mohamed Atta met a young Palestinian woman called Amal. She worked in a planning bureau there, so she had plenty in common with Atta, who was studying town planning.
The men who brought the world to brink of war
When our world changed forever
It had been months in the planning. And within moments of the attack on 11 September, old certainties had crumbled as surely as those mighty towers. Here we trace the arc of terror, from its secret beginnings and deadly actions to the fallout that will affect us all. (Sept 16)
When our world changed forever (part three)
When our world changed forever (part two)
'We close our eyes and say a prayer, although I don't know who I'm praying to. There is no God.'
In a letter to The Observer's literary editor Robert McCrum, the award-winning novelist Peter Carey tells of his desperation when his wife went missing, the rage that overcame him - and the pride he now has in his city.
'Let's roll...'
Todd Beamer was a religious family man. Mark Bingham was gay, a PR executive and a keen sportsman. The story of flight 93 shows how these two very different men became heroes of America.
Get ready for war, Bush tells America
President George Bush yesterday dramatically ordered America to war, and vowed to crush 'those who have chosen their own destruction'.
'We'll destroy them,' says Bush
War on Terrorism: Observer special
