I think there are a variety of factors. First off, I suspect that the FBI and others do a good job, overall, even before 9/11.
I also think that terrorists have been deprived of their most devastating weapon- airliners. Not by the so-called security at terminals, but by altered in-flight procedures and passenger reaction to any attempt. A flight of Nuns would rip any would-be hijacker to pieces, or die trying.
Other changes in the way all western govts play the game clearly has an effect, too, in terms of greater watchfulness of possible terrorists and fundage for their efforts. The ridiculous searches of ''random passengers" belies the real profiling going on at an entirely different level.
I'm hoping that 9/11 may turn out to be a one-off, a feat not duplicable under present circumstances. For Terrorists to resort to anything less horrific would be interpreted as a sign of weakness, and they haven't come up with a practical way of duplicating that kind of effect. Obvious in retrospect, the idea of suicide bombers using airliners as weapons was never considered as anything more than a remote possibility, creating an exploitable security flaw.
That doesn't mean they've quit dreaming, far from it, but I'm sure they feel time is on their side, but that the possibilities are now a lot more limited... They're laying low, waiting us out, trying to find an angle, a means, an avenue of attack, something the equal of 9/11.
Invading Afghanistan accomplished very little, if anything. The entire border area with Pakistan has never been run by any real government, other than the local tribes, who regard the border as an inconvenience or asset, depending... Their alliance with Al Qaeda is ongoing, their countryside still relatively secure form outside interference, particularly with the US distracted in another quagmire, Iraq...
Efforts by the Saudis and Pakistanis to curb terrorism are the best long term solution. It's where the ideological basis is preached openly, the source of terrorist inspiration and leadership. Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza offers another festering sore, too, one that must be healed if our grandchildren are to be free of terrorism... It's not the kind of struggle that can be won with military force, short of genocide on an incredible scale...
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