{"id":55681,"date":"2019-09-11T17:10:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T17:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/11\/at-pentagon-911-ceremony-trump-says-hes-hitting-the-taliban-harder-than-ever-before\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:51:18","slug":"at-pentagon-911-ceremony-trump-says-hes-hitting-the-taliban-harder-than-ever-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/11\/at-pentagon-911-ceremony-trump-says-hes-hitting-the-taliban-harder-than-ever-before\/","title":{"rendered":"At Pentagon 9\/11 ceremony, Trump says he\u2019s hitting the Taliban \u2018harder than ever before\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
Military Times remembers the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the 18th anniversary of the events, a turning point in U.S. military history.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Eighteen years after a jihadi attack<\/a> on the Pentagon killed 184, President Trump<\/a> told the crowd at a 9\/11 remembrance ceremony<\/a> for survivors, family members and first responders that the U.S. is striking back harder than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of current and former Defense Department employees who were in the building on Sept. 11, 2001, along with families of the 125 killed, gathered at the Pentagon\u2019s 9\/11 memorial Wednesday morning to pay their respects. In his remarks, Trump alluded to the current situation in Afghanistan, where troops have been stationed since October 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had peace talks scheduled<\/a> a few days ago,” he said of a planned clandestine meeting with senior Taliban officials. \u201cI called them off when I learned that they had killed a great American soldier from Puerto Rico and 11 other innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz<\/a>, <\/a>34, an 82nd Airborne Division soldier, was killed Thursday in an IED attack near the U.S. embassy in Kabul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey thought they would use this attack to show strength. But actually, what they showed is unrelenting weakness,\u201d Trump said. “The last four days, we\u2019ve hit our enemy harder than they have ever been hit before, and that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Central Command chief Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters traveling with him in Afghanistan on Monday that retribution would come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re certainly not going to sit still and let them carry out some self-described race to victory,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t