India, Sept. 9 -- Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks transformed the global security landscape, terrorism remains far from defeated. In a conversation with Senior Anchor Aayesha Varma on Point Blank, Hindustan Times Executive Editor Shishir Gupta argued that while the methods, networks and technologies used by terrorist groups have changed, the underlying political purpose of terrorism remains the same: to seize influence, spread fear and advance ideological goals through violence.

The discussion came against the backdrop of the approaching 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in which 2,977 people were killed after al-Qaeda hijackers weaponised commercial aircraft and struck the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a fiel...