We have just marked the 10-year anniversary of the eleventh of September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, known as 9/11. America marks the day every year, and this year the marking was accompanied by more analysis and debate than usual, not only in USA but all over the world. More than 3,000 people died in the attacks and several hundred fire-fighters and rescue workers, too. From the time the tragedies happened in 2001, all Americans joined hands in mourning, and people from all over the world followed the cause. The victims were not only from America, but also a number of other countries, making the tragedies become more global. There was similar expression of solidarity after the terror attacks in Spain and London when they happened later. In Norway, we had terrorist attacks of a different kind on July 22 this year. A rightwing extremist detonated a car bomb near the Prime Ministers office downtown Oslo, causing major damage to buildings and killing about 10, and he shot dead in cold blood around 100 young men and women at Utoeya, attending the Labour Partys summer camp outside the city. Again, the whole country came together in shock and solidarity, and people from all over the world expressed sympathy, including many Pakistanis. I was in Pakistan when it happened and we had a vigil some days after the tragedy. I was, indeed, heartened by the solidarity shown by Pakistanis and other foreigners. The Americans and British showed special concern, feeling special closeness due to their own experience. When such tragedies happen in countries in the West, there seems to be more media coverage and attention than when they happen in developing countries. I was in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1997 when the terrorist attack on the American Embassy happened there. More than 250 people died and almost 5,000 were injured, many to die from injuries and later, and others to live a life as handicapped, having become blind or injured otherwise by flying glass. In Kenya, a developing country, we all know that the medical treatment and disability allowances would be insufficient. America and other foreign countries gave some support, but I remember we all thought the help was meagre and the insurance matters were closed too soon, following the work of a commission. This attack and another attack, at the same time, in neighbouring Tanzania were the first large terrorist attacks carried out by bin Ladens people. We were all shocked by the East African attacks, but there was not the same outpour of sympathy as in the other cases I have mentioned in the West, as far as I can recall. And what about the many similar cases in Afghanistan and Pakistan? No, we have not seen the same kind of sympathy, not in individual cases and not the sum of all of them. We should also note that the war on terror, which was declared by America, NATO and a number of other countries after the 9/11 events, including Pakistan, has resulted in thousands of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq. If they are about 300,000 or so, then they are about 100 times as many as those who died on 9/11. Every human life has the same value and every person is missed and mourned by his or her loved ones. The response to 9/11 was not the right one. I believe the response the Norwegians have taken after the tragedies in Norway on July 22, although different and at a lower scale than many other tragedies, was a better response than the response after 9/11. The Norwegian Prime Minister and the other leaders underlined that we should become more inclusive and more concerned about integration of immigrants and people of other religions in the future; we should not be revengeful and install more security measures in an attempt to protect ourselves from terror attacks. Many such measures would be futile and even counterproductive. In Pakistan, I believe that the war on terror has led to more insecurity, extremism and terrorism than before 9/11. I recall that when I first had my six-month contract in the country to work with the Afghan refugees in 2000 and early in 2001, we were not much bothered about security issues. This leaves serious question marks about the whole approach that the West has had after 9/11, often arm-twisting other countries to be with them, otherwise they would be seen as being against them, as it was termed - and nobody wanted to be against the West, and indeed not against the sole superpower, America. Let me hasten to add that some anti-terrorism actions have also had some positive aspects, and, in addition, a positive effect has often been that we have begun defining and protecting our democratic values. However, sometimes that has also been done in a righteous way being counterproductive. The terrible terrorist attacks that I have mentioned were felt as attacks on democratic values of the countries where they happened. In many ways the response became similar to nation-building activities. I would like to underline that the term nation building means defining certain common values and pulling in the same direction, so that other concrete activities can follow. Nation building is not building roads, schools and hospitals, but it is defining the superstructure for the society and country. We can even broaden the definition to say that it is a cosmology for several countries, such as the Western cosmology, or even broader common denominators and universal values. If we could use tragedies - mourning - to build back better, then there will come something positive out of our common actions after tragedies. I believe that is often the case within countries, and for subgroups and communities with countries. The most important part of this action is to seek deeper definitions of values, and to explain those values to everyone, so that everyone can understand and subscribe to the common values. There is need for a lot of teaching and preaching. There is less need for attacking others to root out terrorism, and when that has to be done, it must be done through discourse, positive arguments, and dialogue. We should reach out an open and inclusive hand to everyone. If we dont agree always, we should at least try to respect each other. And when injustice has been done - and in our imperfect world there is a lot of injustice - it becomes our duty to work actively to correct injustice, between individuals, groups, communities and countries. Often, injustice includes economic and material aspects, but it also includes cultural, religious and other aspects. The West often fails to see this, as it consumes most of the worlds resources alone and, at the same time, wants to keep the moral leadership and upper hand. If the West and, indeed, America could see the beam in its own eye, not only the splinter in our brothers eye, to use a Biblical term from Issas Sermon on the Mount, we would be on the way to reduced terror, conflicts and wars. The New World Order can only be achieved through dialogue and honest cooperation, and then, in the end, we will all gain. I hope that when we in future mark terror attacks and tragedies, we keep this in mind. The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist based in Islamabad. He has served as United Nations Specialist in the United States, as well as various countries in Africa and Asia. He has also spent a decade dealing with the Afghan refugee crisis and university education in Pakistan. Email: atlehetland@yahoo.com