The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2011) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011) This article's references may not meet Wikipedia's guidelines for reliable sources. Please help by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. (May 2011) Al-Qaeda Dates of operation 11 August 1988 present Leader Saif al-Adel Active region(s) Global Ideology Khawarij Islamism Islamic fundamentalism Kharijism1 Pan-Islamism Status Designated as Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department2 Designated as Proscribed Group by the UK Home Office3 Designated as terrorist group by EU Common Foreign and Security Policy4 Size 500  1000 operatives (2001);5

Al-Qaeda ( /lkad/ al-ky-d or /lked/ al-kay-d; Arabic: al-qidah "the base" or "the foundation") alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida is a global militant Sunni Islamist group founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 19886 and late 1989.7 It operates as a network comprising both a multinational stateless army8 and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad.

Al-Qaeda has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries such as the September 11 attacks US embassy bombings and Bali bombings. The U.S. government responded by launching the War on Terror. Al-Qaeda has continued to exist and grew through the decade from 2001 to 2011.9

Characteristic techniques include suicide attacks and simultaneous bombings of different targets.10 Activities ascribed to it may involve members of the movement who have taken a pledge of loyalty to Osama bin Laden or the much more numerous "al-Qaeda-linked" individuals who have undergone training in one of its camps in Afghanistan Pakistan Iraq or Sudan but not taken any pledge.11

Al-Qaeda ideologues envision a complete break from the foreign influences in Muslim countries and the creation of a new Islamic caliphate. Reported beliefs include that a Christian-Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam12 which is largely embodied in the U.S.-Israel alliance and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.

Al-Qaeda is also responsible for instigating sectarian violence among Muslims.13 Al-Qaeda is intolerant of non-Sunni branches of Islam and denounces them with excommunications called "takfir". Al-Qaeda leaders regard liberal Muslims Shias Sufis and other sects as heretics and sometimes issue attacks on their mosques and gatherings.14 Examples of sectarian attacks include the Yazidi community bombings Sadr City bombings Ashoura Massacre and April 2007 Baghdad bombings.15

Al-Qaeda is also known as the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Crusaders and the Jews.16 Contents 1 Organization 1.1 Leadership 1.2 Command structure 1.3 Field operatives 1.4 Insurgent forces 1.5 Financing 2 Strategy 3 Etymology 4 Ideology 5 Religious compatibility 6 History 6.1 Jihad in Afghanistan 6.2 Expanding operations 6.3 Gulf War and the start of U.S. enmity 6.4 Sudan 6.5 Refuge in Afghanistan 6.6 Call for global jihad 6.7 Fatwas 6.8 In Iraq 6.9 Somalia and Yemen 6.10 American operations 6.11 Death of Osama bin Laden 7 Attacks 7.1 1992 7.2 1993 World Trade Center bombing 7.3 Late 1990s 7.4 September 11 2001 attacks 8 Designation as terrorist organization 9 War on Terrorism 10 Activities 10.1 Africa 10.2 Europe 10.3 Arab world 10.4 Kashmir 10.5 Internet 10.6 Aviation network 11 Alleged CIA involvement 12 Criticism 13 See also 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External links Organization

Al-Qaeda's management philosophy has been described as "centralization of decision and decentralization of execution."17 Following the War on Terror it is thought that al-Qaeda's leadership has "become geographically isolated" leading to the "emergence of decentralized leadership" of regional groups using the al-Qaeda "brand".1819

Many terrorism experts do not believe that the global jihadist movement is driven at every level by bin Laden and his followers. Although bin Laden still had huge ideological sway over some Muslim extremists experts argue that al-Qaeda has fragmented over the years into a variety of disconnected regional movements that have little connection with each other. Marc Sageman a psychiatrist and former CIA officer said that al-Qaeda would now just be a "loose label for a movement that seems to target the West". "There is no umbrella organisation. We like to create a mythical entity called al-Qaeda in our minds but that is not the reality we are dealing with."20

Indeed this view mirrors the account given by Osama bin Laden in his October 2001 interview by Tayseer Allouni: "...this matter isn't about any specific person and...is not about the al-Qaidah Organization. We are the children of an Islamic Nation with Prophet Muhammad as its leader our Lord is one...and all the true believers mu'mineen are brothers. So the situation isn't like the West portrays it that there is an "organization" with a specific name (such as "al-Qaidah") and so on. That particular name is very old. It was born without any intention from us. Brother Abu Ubaida... created a military base to train the young men to fight against the vicious arrogant brutal terrorizing Soviet empire... So this place was called "The Base" "Al-Qaidah" as in a training base so this name grew and became. We aren't separated from this nation. We are the children of a nation and we are an unseperable part of it and from those public demonstrations which spread from the far east from the Philippines to Indonesia to Malaysia to India to Pakistan reaching Mauritania... and so we discuss the conscience of this nation." Others however see al-Qaeda as an integrated network that is strongly led from the Pakistani tribal areas and has a powerful strategic purpose. Bruce Hoffman a terrorism expert at Georgetown University said "It amazes me that people don't think there is a clear adversary out there and that our adversary does not have a strategic approach."20 Al-Qaeda has the following direct franchises: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which comprises Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Islamic Jihad of Yemen Al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Shabaab (Mujahideen Youth Movement) in Somalia Egyptian Islamic Jihad Libyan Islamic Fighting Group East Turkestan Islamic Movement in Xinjiang China Leadership Information mostly acquired from Jamal al-Fadl provided American authorities with a rough picture of how the group was organized. While the veracity of the information provided by al-Fadl and the motivation for his cooperation are both disputed American authorities base much of their current knowledge of al-Qaeda on his testimony.21 Osama bin Laden was the emir or commander and was the Senior Operations Chief of al-Qaeda. Bin Laden was killed on May 1 2011 by US forces. It has been reported that Saif al-Adel has now succeeded Bin laden in this role. Ayman al-Zawahiri is al-Qaeda's Deputy Operations Chief. As of August 6 2010 the chief of operations was considered to be Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah replacing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.22 Bin Laden was advised by a Shura Council which consists of senior al-Qaeda members estimated by Western officials at about 2030 people. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq but his safehouse was hit by U.S. missiles in a targeted killing and Abu Ayyub al-Masri succeeded him who was also later killed by US and Iraqi forces on April 18 2010. Al-Qaeda's network was built from scratch as a conspiratorial network that draws on leaders of all its regional nodes "as and when necessary to serve as an integral part of its high command."23 The Military Committee is responsible for training operatives acquiring weapons and planning attacks. The Money/Business Committee funds the recruitment and training of operatives through the hawala banking system. U.S-led efforts to eradicate the sources of terrorist financing24 were most successful in the year immediately following September 11;25 al-Qaeda continues to operate through unregulated banks such as the 1000 or so hawaladars in Pakistan some of which can handle deals of up to $10 million.26 It also provides air tickets and false passports pays al-Qaeda members and oversees profit-driven businesses.27 In the 9/11 Commission Report it was estimated that al-Qaeda required $30 million-per-year to conduct its operations. The Law Committee reviews Sharia law and decides whether particular courses of action conform to the law. The Islamic Study/Fatwah Committee issues religious edicts such as an edict in 1998 telling Muslims to kill Americans. In the late 1990s there was a publicly known Media Committee which ran the now-defunct newspaper Nashrat al Akhbar (Newscast) and handled public relations. In 2005 al-Qaeda formed As-Sahab a media production house to supply its video and audio materials. Command structure When asked about the possibility of al-Qaeda's connection to the 7 July 2005 London bombings in 2005 Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said: "Al-Qaeda is not an organization. Al-Qaeda is a way of working ... but this has the hallmark of that approach ... Al-Qaeda clearly has the ability to provide training ... to provide expertise ... and I think that is what has occurred here."28 However on August 13 2005 The Independent newspaper quoting police and MI5 investigations reported that the 7 July bombers acted independently of an al-Qaeda terror mastermind someplace abroad.29 What exactly al-Qaeda is or was remains in dispute. Author and journalist Adam Curtis contends that the idea of al-Qaeda as a formal organization is primarily an American invention. Curtis contends the name "al-Qaeda" was first brought to the attention of the public in the 2001 trial of bin Laden and the four men accused of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa: The reality was that bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri had become the focus of a loose association of disillusioned Islamist militants who were attracted by the new strategy. But there was no organization. These were militants who mostly planned their own operations and looked to bin Laden for funding and assistance. He was not their commander. There is also no evidence that bin Laden used the term "al-Qaeda" to refer to the name of a group until after September the 11th when he realized that this was the term the Americans had given it.30 As a matter of law the U.S. Department of Justice needed to show that bin Laden was the leader of a criminal organization in order to charge him in absentia under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act also known as the RICO statutes. The name of the organization and details of its structure were provided in the testimony of Jamal al-Fadl who said he was a founding member of the organization and a former employee of bin Laden.31 Questions about the reliability of al-Fadl's testimony have been raised by a number of sources because of his history of dishonesty and because he was delivering it as part of a plea bargain agreement after being convicted of conspiring to attack U.S. military establishments.2132 Sam Schmidt one of his defense lawyers said: There were selective portions of al-Fadl's testimony that I believe was false to help support the picture that he helped the Americans join together. I think he lied in a number of specific testimony about a unified image of what this organization was. It made al-Qaeda the new Mafia or the new Communists. It made them identifiable as a group and therefore made it easier to prosecute any person associated with al-Qaeda for any acts or statements made by bin Laden.30 Field operatives The number of individuals in the organization who have undergone proper military training and are capable of commanding insurgent forces is largely unknown. In 2006 it was estimated that al-Qaeda had several thousand commanders embedded in 40 different countries.33 As of 2009 it was believed that no more than 200300 members were still active commanders.34 According to the award-winning 2004 BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares al-Qaeda was so weakly linked together that it was hard to say it existed apart from bin Laden and a small clique of close associates. The lack of any significant numbers of convicted al-Qaeda members despite a large number of arrests on terrorism charges was cited by the documentary as a reason to doubt whether a widespread entity that met the description of al-Qaeda existed.35 Insurgent forces According to Robert Cassidy al-Qaeda controls two separate forces deployed alongside insurgents in Iraq and Pakistan. The first numbering in the tens of thousands was "organized trained and equipped as insurgent combat forces" in the Soviet-Afghan war.33 It was made up primarily of foreign mujahideen from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Many went on to fight in Bosnia and Somalia for global jihad. Another group approximately 10000 strong live in Western states and have received rudimentary combat training.33 Other analysts have described al-Qaeda's rank and file as changing from being "predominantly Arab" in its first years of operation to "largely Pakistani" as of 2007.36 It has been estimated that 62% of al-Qaeda members have university education.37 Financing The majority of financing for al-Qeada in the 1990s and 2000s came from the personal wealth of Osama bin Laden which was estimated at around $300 million.38 Other sources of income include the heroin trade and donations from supporters.39 Strategy On March 11 2005 Al-Quds Al-Arabi published extracts from Saif al-Adel's document "Al Quaeda's Strategy to the Year 2020".4041 Abdel Bari Atwan summarizes this strategy as comprising five stages: Provoke the United States into invading a Muslim country. Incite local resistance to occupying forces. Expand the conflict to neighboring countries and engage the U.S. in a long war of attrition. Convert al-Qaeda into an ideology and set of operating principles that can be loosely franchised in other countries without requiring direct command and control and via these franchises incite attacks against countries allied with the U.S. until they withdraw from the conflict as happened with the 2004 Madrid train bombings but which did not have the same effect with the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The U.S. economy will finally collapse under the strain of too many engagements in too many places similarly to the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Arab regimes supported by the U.S. will then collapse and a Wahhabi Caliphate will be installed across the region. Etymology In Arabic al-Qaeda has four syllables (Arabic pronunciation: lqd). However since two of the Arabic consonants in the name (the voiceless uvular plosive q and the voiced pharyngeal fricative ) are not phones found in the English language the closest naturalized English pronunciations include /lkad/ /lked/ and /lkid/.citation needed al-Qaeda's name can also be transliterated as al-Qaida al-Qa'ida el-Qaida or al-Qaeda.42 The name comes from the Arabic noun q'idah which means foundation or basis and can also refer to a military base. The initial al- is the Arabic definite article the hence the base.43 Bin Laden explained the origin of the term in a videotaped interview with Al Jazeera journalist Tayseer Alouni in October 2001: The name 'al-Qaeda' was established a long time ago by mere chance. The late Abu Ebeida El-Banashiri established the training camps for our mujahedeen against Russia's terrorism. We used to call the training camp al-Qaeda. The name stayed.44 It has been argued that two documents seized from the Sarajevo office of the Benevolence International Foundation prove that the name was not simply adopted by the mujahid movement and that a group called al-Qaeda was established in August 1988. Both of these documents contain minutes of meetings held to establish a new military group and contain the term "al-Qaeda".45 Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote that the word al-Qaeda should be translated as "the database" and originally referred to the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen militants who were recruited and trained with CIA help to defeat the Russians.46 In April 2002 the group assumed the name Qa'idat al-Jihad which means "the base of Jihad". According to Diaa Rashwan this was "apparently as a result of the merger of the overseas branch of Egypt's al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamist Jihad or EIJ) group led by Ayman El-Zawahiri with the groups Bin Laden brought under his control after his return to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s."47 Ideology See also: Qutbism Part of the Politics series on Islamism Basic topics Political aspects of Islam Client state Internationalism Islamic fundamentalism Pan-Islamism Shariah Ummah Antinationalism Postcolonialism Movements All-India Muslim League Muslim Brotherhood  Hamas Hizb-ut-Tahrir Jamaat-e-Islami Mill Gr Manifestations Islamization Islamic economics Sex segregation Resistance movements Concepts Khilafah  Ummah Shariah Key texts The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Iqbal) Milestones (Qutb) Islamic Government (Khomeini)   Islam Portal Politics portal v d e The radical Islamist movement in general and al-Qaeda in particular developed during the Islamic revival and Islamist movement of the last three decades of the 20th century along with less extreme movements. Some have argued that "without the writings" of Islamic author and thinker Sayyid Qutb "al-Qaeda would not have existed."48 Qutb preached that because of the lack of sharia law the Muslim world was no longer Muslim having reverted to pre-Islamic ignorance known as jahiliyyah. To restore Islam he said a vanguard movement of righteous Muslims was needed to establish "true Islamic states" implement sharia and rid the Muslim world of any non-Muslim influences such as concepts like socialism and nationalism. Enemies of Islam in Qutb's view included "treacherous Orientalists"49 and "world Jewry" who plotted "conspiracies" and "wickedly" opposed Islam. In the words of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa a close college friend of bin Laden: Islam is different from any other religion; it's a way of life. We Khalifa and bin Laden were trying to understand what Islam has to say about how we eat who we marry how we talk. We read Sayyid Qutb. He was the one who most affected our generation.50 Qutb had an even greater influence on bin Laden's mentor and another leading member of al-Qaeda51 Ayman al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri's uncle and maternal family patriarch Mafouz Azzam was Qutb's student then protg then personal lawyer and finally executor of his estateone of the last people to see Qutb before his execution. "Young Ayman al-Zawahiri heard again and again from his beloved uncle Mahfouz about the purity of Qutb's character and the torment he had endured in prison."52 Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work Knights under the Prophet's Banner.53 One of the most powerful of Qutb's ideas was that many who said they were Muslims were not. Rather they were apostates. That not only gave jihadists "a legal loophole around the prohibition of killing another Muslim" but made "it a religious obligation to execute" these self-professed Muslims. These alleged apostates included leaders of Muslim countries since they failed to enforce sharia law.54 The fatwa on terrorism is regarded as a direct assault on the ideology of al-Qaeda which dismantles it from the sources of Quran and sunnah.55 Religious compatibility Abdel Bari Atwan writes that: While the leadership's own theological platform is essentially Salafi the organization's umbrella is sufficiently wide to encompass various schools of thought and political leanings. Al-Qaeda counts among its members and supporters people associated with Wahhabism Shafi'ism Malikism and Hanafism. There are even some whose beliefs and practices are directly at odds with Salafism such as Yunis Khalis one of the leaders of the Afghan mujahedin. He is a mystic who visits tombs of saints and seeks their blessingspractices inimical to bin Laden's Wahhabi-Salafi school of thought. The only exception to this pan-Islamic policy is Shi'ism. Al-Qaeda seems implacably opposed to it as it holds Shi'ism to be heresy. In Iraq it has openly declared war on the Badr Brigades who have fully cooperated with the US and now considers even Shi'i civilians to be legitimate targets for acts of violence.56 History This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed facts are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (May 2011) This section contains information which may be of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (May 2011) Researcherswho have described five distinct phases in the development of al-Qaeda: the beginning in the late 1980s the "wilderness" period in 199096 its "heyday" in 19962001 the network period of 200105 and a period of fragmentation from 2005 to today.57 Jihad in Afghanistan Main articles: Soviet war in Afghanistan and Islamic mujahid movement Mujahideen leader walks among his fighters The origins of al-Qaeda as a network inspiring terrorism around the world and training operatives can be traced to the Soviet War in Afghanistan (December 1979 February 1989).58 The U.S. viewed the conflict in Afghanistan with the Afghan Marxists and allied Soviet troops on one side and the native Afghan mujahideen some of whom were radical Islamic militants on the other as a blatant case of Soviet expansionism and aggression. The U.S. channeled funds through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency to the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation in a CIA program called Operation Cyclone.5960 At the same time a growing number of Arab mujahideen joined the jihad against the Afghan Marxist regime facilitated by international Muslim organizations particularly the Maktab al-Khidamat61 whose funds came from some of the $600 million a year donated to the jihad by the Saudi Arabia government and individual Muslimsparticularly independent Saudi businessmen who were approached by bin Laden.62page needed Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) or the "Services Office" a Muslim organization founded in 1980 to raise and channel funds and recruit foreign mujahideen for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan was established by Abdullah Yusuf Azzam a Palestinian Islamic scholar and member of the Muslim Brotherhood and bin Laden in Peshawar Pakistan in 1984. Omar Abdel-Rahman From 1986 it began to set up a network of recruiting offices in the U.S. the hub of which was the Al Kifah Refugee Center at the Farouq Mosque in Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue. Among notable figures at the Brooklyn center were "double agent" Ali Mohamed whom FBI special agent Jack Cloonan called "bin Laden's first trainer"63 and "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman a leading recruiter of mujahideen for Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda evolved from the MAK. MAK organized guest houses in Peshawar near the Afghan border and gathered supplies for the construction of paramilitary training camps to prepare foreign recruits for the Afghan war front. Azzam persuaded bin Laden to join MAK.when Bin Laden became a "major financier" of the mujahideen spending his own money and using his connections with "the Saudi royal family and the petro-billionaires of the Gulf" in order to improve public opinion of the war and raise more funds.64 Beginning in 1987 Azzam and bin Laden started creating camps inside Afghanistan.65 U.S. government financial support for the Afghan Islamic militants was substantial. Aid to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar an Afghan mujahideen leader. and founder and leader of the Hezb-e Islami radical Islamic militant faction alone amounted "by the most conservative estimates" to $600 million. Hekmatyar "worked closely" with bin Laden in the early 1990s.66 In addition to hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid Hekmatyar also received the lion's share of aid from the Saudis.67 There is evidence that the CIA supported Hekmatyar's drug trade activities by giving him immunity for his opium trafficking that financed operation of his militant faction.68 The MAK and foreign mujahideen volunteers or "Afghan Arabs" did not play a major role in the war. While over 250000 Afghan mujahideen fought the Soviets and the communist Afghan government it is estimated that were never more than 2000 foreign mujahideen in the field at any one time.69 Nonetheless foreign mujahideen volunteers came from 43 countries and the total number that participated in the Afghan movement between 1982 and 1992 is reported to have been 35000.70 Bin Laden was one of the key players in organizing training camps for the foreign Muslim volunteers.7172 The Soviet Union finally withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. To the surprise of many Mohammad Najibullah's communist Afghan government hung on for three more years before being overrun by elements of the mujahideen. With mujahideen leaders unable to agree on a structure for governance chaos ensued with constantly reorganizing alliances fighting for control of ill-defined territories leaving the country devastated. Expanding operations This article or section reads like an editorial or opinion piece and may require cleanup. Please improve this article by rewriting this article or section in an encyclopedic style to make it neutral in tone. Please see WP:No original research and WP:NOTOPINION for further details. (May 2011) the correlation between the words and deeds of bin Laden his lieutenants and their allies was close to perfectif they said they were going to do something they were much more than likely to try to do it. Their record in this regard puts Western leaders to shame. Michael Scheuer CIA Station Chief73 Toward the end of the Soviet military mission in Afghanistan some mujahideen wanted to expand their operations to include Islamist struggles in other parts of the world such as Israel and Kashmir. A number of overlapping and interrelated organizations were formed to further those aspirations. One of these was the organization that would eventually be called al-Qaeda formed by bin Laden with an initial meeting held on August 11 1988.74 Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20 1988 indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "basically an organized Islamic faction its goal is to lift the word of God to make His religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability good manners obedience and making a pledge (bayat) to follow one's superiors.75 According to Wright the group's real name wasn't used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret."76 His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11 1988 meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Abdullah Azzam and bin Laden where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.77 Bin Laden wished to establish non-military operations in other parts of the world; Azzam in contrast wanted to remain focused on military campaigns. After Azzam was assassinated in 1989 the MAK split with a significant number joining bin Laden's organization. In November 1989 Ali Mohamed a former special forces Sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg North Carolina left military service and moved to California. He traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and became "deeply involved with bin Laden's plans."78 A year later on November 8 1990 the FBI raided the New Jersey home of Ali Mohammed's associate El Sayyid Nosair discovering a great deal of evidence of terrorist plots including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers.79 Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane on November 5 1990. In 1991 Ali Mohammed is said to have helped orchestrate bin Laden's relocation to Sudan.80 Gulf War and the start of U.S. enmity Main article: Gulf War Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989 bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 had put the Kingdom and its ruling House of Saud at risk. The world's most valuable oil fields were within easy striking distance of Iraqi forces in Kuwait and Saddam's call to pan-Arab/Islamism could potentially rally internal dissent. In the face of a seemingly massive Iraqi military presence Saudi Arabia's own forces were well armed but far outnumbered. Bin Laden offered the services of his mujahideen to King Fahd to protect Saudi Arabia from the Iraqi army. The Saudi monarch refused bin Laden's offer opting instead to allow U.S. and allied forces to deploy troops into Saudi territory.81 The deployment angered Bin Laden as he believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. After speaking publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops he was banished and forced to live in exile in Sudan. Sudan From around 1992 to 1996 al-Qaeda and bin Laden based themselves in Sudan at the invitation of Islamist theoretician Hassan al Turabi. The move followed an Islamist coup d'tat in Sudan led by Colonel Omar al-Bashir who professed a commitment to reordering Muslim political values. During this time bin Laden assisted the Sudanese government bought or set up various business enterprises and established camps where insurgents trained. A key turning point for bin Laden further pitting him against the Sauds occurred in 1993 when Saudi Arabia gave support for the Oslo Accords which set a path for peace between Israel and Palestinians.82 Zawahiri and the EIJ who served as the core of al-Qaeda but also engaged in separate operations against the Egyptian government had bad luck in Sudan. In 1993 a young schoolgirl was killed in an unsuccessful EIJ attempt on the life of the Egyptian prime minister Atef Sedki. Egyptian public opinion turned against Islamist bombings and the police arrested 280 of al-Jihad's members and executed 6.83 Due to bin Laden's continuous verbal assault on King Fahd of Saudi Arabia on 5 March 1994 Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's passport; bin Laden's Saudi citizenship was also revoked. His family was persuaded to cut off his monthly stipend $7 million ($10400000 in current dollar terms) a year and his Saudi assets were frozen.8485 His family publicly disowned him. There is controversy over whether and to what extent he continued to garner support from members of his family and/or the Saudi government.86 In June 1995 an even more ill-fated attempt to assassinate Egyptian president Mubarak led to the expulsion of EIJ and in May 1996 of bin Laden by the Sudanese government. According to Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz the Sudanese government offered the Clinton Administration numerous opportunities to arrest bin Laden. Those opportunities were met positively by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright but spurned when Susan Rice and counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke persuaded National Security Advisor Sandy Berger to overrule Albright. Ijazs claims appeared in numerous Op-Ed pieces including one in the Los Angeles Times 87 and one in The Washington Post co-written with former Ambassador to Sudan Timothy M. Carney.88 Similar allegations have been made by Vanity Fair contributing editor David Rose89 and Richard Miniter author of Losing bin Laden in a November 2003 interview with World.90 Several sources dispute Ijaz's claim including the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the U.S. (the 911 Commission) which concluded in part: Sudan's minister of defense Fatih Erwa has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Ladin over to the U.S. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Ladin. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since at the time there was no indictment out-standing.91 Refuge in Afghanistan Main articles: Taliban's rise to power and Afghan training camp After the Soviet withdrawal Afghanistan was effectively ungoverned for seven years and plagued by constant infighting between former allies and various mujahideen groups. Throughout the 1990s a new force began to emerge. The origins of the Taliban (literally "students") lay in the children of Afghanistan many of them orphaned by the war and many of whom had been educated in the rapidly expanding network of Islamic schools (madrassas) either in Kandahar or in the refugee camps on the Afghan-Pakistani border. According to Ahmed Rashid five leaders of the Taliban were graduates of Darul Uloom Haqqania a madrassa in the small town of Akora Khattak.92 The town is situated near Peshawar in Pakistan but largely attended by Afghan refugees.92 This institution reflected Salafi beliefs in its teachings and much of its funding came from private donations from wealthy Arabs. Bin Laden's contacts were still laundering most of these donations using "unscrupulous" Islamic banks to transfer the money to an "array" of charities which serve as front groups for al-Qaeda or transporting cash-filled suitcases straight into Pakistan.93 Another four of the Taliban's leaders attended a similarly funded and influenced madrassa in Kandahar. Many of the mujahideen who later joined the Taliban fought alongside Afghan warlord Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi's Harkat i Inqilabi group at the time of the Russian invasion. This group also enjoyed the loyalty of most Afghan Arab fighters. The continuing internecine strife between various factions and accompanying lawlessness following the Soviet withdrawal enabled the growing and well-disciplined Taliban to expand their control over territory in Afghanistan and it came to establish an enclave which it called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In 1994 it captured the regional center of Kandahar and after making rapid territorial gains thereafter conquered the capital city Kabul in September 1996. After the Sudanese made it clear in May 1996 that bin Laden would never be welcome to returnclarification needed Taliban-controlled Afghanistanwith previously established connections between the groups administered with a shared militancy94 and largely isolated from American political influence and military powerprovided a perfect location for al-Qaeda to relocate its headquarters. Al-Qaeda enjoyed the Taliban's protection and a measure of legitimacy as part of their Ministry of Defense although only Pakistan Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan the Taliban government tasked al-Qaeda with the training of Brigade 055 an elite part of the Taliban's army from 1997-2001. The Brigade was made up of mostly foreign fighters many veterans from the Soviet Invasion and all under the same basic ideology of the mujahideen. In November 2001 as Operation Enduring Freedom had toppled the Taliban government many Brigade 055 fighters were captured or killed and those that survived were thought to head into Pakistan along with bin Laden.95 By the end of 2008 some sources reported that the Taliban had severed any remaining ties with al-Qaeda96 while others cast doubt on this.97 According to senior U.S. military intelligence officials there were fewer than 100 members of al-Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan in 2009.98 Call for global jihad This section requires expansion. Around 1994 the Salafi groups waging jihad in Bosnia entered into a seemingly irreversible decline. As they grew less and less aggressive groups such as EIJ began to drift away from the Salafi cause in Europe. Al-Qaeda decided to step in and assumed control of around 80% of the terrorist cells in Bosnia in late 1995. At the same time al-Qaeda ideologues instructed the network's recruiters to look for Jihadi international Muslims who believed that jihad must be fought on a global level. The concept of a "global Salafi jihad" had been around since at least the early 1980s. Several groups had formed for the explicit purpose of driving non-Muslims out of every Muslim land at the same time and with maximum carnage. This was however a fundamentally defensive strategyclarification needed. Al-Qaeda sought to open the "offensive phase" of the global Salafi jihad.99 Bosnian Islamists in 2006 called for "solidarity with Islamic causes around the world" supporting the insurgents in Kashmir and Iraq as well as the groups fighting for a Palestinian state.100 Fatwas Khobar Towers bombing In 1996 al-Qaeda announced its jihad to expel foreign troops and interests from what they considered Islamic lands. Bin Laden issued a fatwa (binding religious edict)101 which amounted to a public declaration of war against the U.S. and its allies and began to refocus al-Qaeda's resources on large-scale propagandist strikes. In June 1996 the Khobar Towers bombing took place in Khobar Saudi Arabia attributed by some to al-Qaeda killing 19 Americans and one Saudi local and wounding 372.102 On February 23 1998 bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad along with three other Islamist leaders co-signed and issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill Americans and their allies where they can when they can.103 Under the banner of the World Islamic Front for Combat Against the Jews and Crusaders they declared: The ruling to kill the Americans and their alliescivilians and militaryis an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the holy mosque in Mecca from their grip and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'.104 Neither bin Laden nor al-Zawahiri possessed the traditional Islamic scholarly qualifications to issue a fatwa. However they rejected the authority of the contemporary ulema (which they saw as the paid servants of jahiliyya rulers) and took it upon themselves.105unreliable source Former Russian FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko who was later killed said that the FSB trained al-Zawahiri in a camp in Dagestan eight months before the 1998 fatwa.106107 In Iraq Main article: Al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda is Sunni and often attacked the Iraqi Shia majority in an attempt to incite sectarian violence and greater chaos in the country.108 Al-Zarqawi purportedly declared an all-out war on Shiites109 while claiming responsibility for Shiite mosque bombings.110 The same month a statement claiming to be by AQI rejected as "fake" a letter allegedly written by al-Zawahiri in which he appears to question the insurgents' tactic of indiscriminately attacking Shiites in Iraq.111 In a December 2007 video al-Zawahiri defended the Islamic State in Iraq but distanced himself from the attacks against civilians committed by "hypocrites and traitors existing among the ranks".112 U.S. and Iraqi officials accused AQI of trying to slide Iraq into a full-scale civil war between Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs with an orchestrated campaign of civilian massacres and a number of provocative attacks against high-profile religious targets.113 With attacks such as the 2003 Imam Ali Mosque bombing the 2004 Day of Ashura and Karbala and Najaf bombings the 2006 first al-Askari Mosque bombing in Samarra the deadly single-day series of bombings in which at least 215 people were killed in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City and the second al-Askari bombing in 2007 they provoked Shiite militias to unleash a wave of retaliatory attacks resulting in death squad-style killings and spiraling further sectarian violence which escalated in 2006 and brought Iraq to the brink of violent anarchy in 2007.114 In 2008 sectarian bombings blamed on al-Qaeda killed at least 42 people at the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala in March and at least 51 people at a bus stop in Baghdad in June. Somalia and Yemen The percentage of terrorist attacks in the West originating from the Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) border declined considerably from almost 100% to 75% in 2007 and to 50% in 2010 as al-Qaeda shifted to Somalia and Yemen.115 While al-Qaeda leaders are hiding in the tribal areas along the AfPak border the middle-tier of the movement display heightened activity in Somalia and Yemen. We know that South Asia is no longer their primary base a U.S. defense agency source said. They are looking for a hide-out in other parts of the world and continue to expand their organization. In Somalia al-Qaeda agents closely collaborate with the Shahab group actively recruit children for suicide-bomber training and export young people to participate in military actions against Americans at the AfPak border. In January 2009 al-Qaedas division in Saudi Arabia merged with its Yemeni wing to form Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.116 Centered in Yemen the group takes advantage of the country's poor economy demography and domestic security. In August 2009 they made the first assassination attempt against a member of the Saudi royal dynasty in decades. President Obama asked his Yemen counterpart Ali Abdullah Saleh to ensure closer cooperation with the U.S. in the struggle against the growing activity of al-Qaeda in Yemen and promised to send additional aid. Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. is unable to pay sufficient attention to Somalia and Yemen which may cause the U.S. some serious problems in the near future.117 Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the 2009 bombing attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.118 The group released photos of Abdulmutallab smiling in a white shirt and white Islamic skullcap with the Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula banner in the background. American operations In December 1998 the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to the president that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the USA including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.119 Anwar al-Awlaki U.S. officials called Awlaki an "example of al-Qaeda reach into" the U.S. in 2008 after probes into his ties to the September 11 hijackers. A former FBI agent identifies Awlaki as a known "senior recruiter for al-Qaeda" and a spiritual motivator.120 Awlaki's sermons in the U.S. were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers as well as accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. U.S. intelligence intercepted emails from Hasan to Awlaki between December 2008 and early 2009. On his website Awlaki has praised Hasan's actions in the Fort Hood shooting.121 An unnamed official claimed there was good reason to believe Awlaki "has been involved in very serious terrorist activities since leaving the U.S. after 9/11 including plotting attacks against America and our allies.122 In addition "Christmas Day bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab said al-Awlaki was one of his al-Qaeda trainers meeting with him and involved in planning or preparing the attack and provided religious justification for it according to unnamed U.S. intelligence officials.123124125 In March 2010 alAwlaki said in a videotape delivered to CNN that jihad against America was binding upon himself and every other able Muslim.126127 U.S. President Barack Obama approved the targeted killing of al-Awlaki by April 2010 making al-Awlaki the first U.S. citizen ever placed on the CIA target list. That required the consent of the U.S. National Security Council and officials said it was appropriate for an individual who posed an imminent danger to national security.128129130131 In May 2010 Faisal Shahzad who pleaded guilty to the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired by" al-Awlaki and sources said Shahzad had made contact with al-Awlaki over the internet.132133134 Representative Jane Harman called him "terrorist number one" and Investor's Business Daily called him "the world's most dangerous man".135136 In July 2010 the U.S. Treasury Department added him to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists and the UN added him to its list of individuals associated with al-Qaeda.137 In August 2010 al-Awlaki's father initiated a lawsuit against the U.S. government with the ACLU challenging its order to kill al-Awlaki.138 In October 2010 U.S. and U.K. officials linked al-Awlaki to the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.139 Death of Osama bin Laden Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden On May 1 2011 in Washington D.C. (May 2 Pakistan Standard Time) U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden was killed by "a small team of Americans" acting under Obama's direct orders in a covert operation in Abbottabad Pakistan140141 about 50 km (31 mi) north of Islamabad.142 According to U.S. officials a team of 2025 US Navy SEALs under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command and working with the CIA stormed bin Laden's compound in two helicopters. Bin Laden and those with him were killed during a firefight in which U.S. forces experienced no injuries or casualties.143 According to one US official the attack was carried out without the knowledge or consent of the Pakistani authorities.144 In Pakistan some people were reported to be shocked at the unauthorized incursion by US armed forces.145 The site is a few miles from the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul.146 In his broadcast announcement President Obama said that U.S. forces "took care to avoid civilian casualties."147 Details soon emerged that three men and a woman were killed along with Bin Laden the woman being killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant.144 DNA from bin Laden's body compared with DNA samples on record from his dead sister148 confirmed bin Laden's identity.149 The body was recovered by the US military and was in its custody141 until according to one US official his body was buried at sea according to Islamic traditions.142150 One U.S. official stated that "finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult."151 U.S State Department issued a "Worldwide caution" for Americans following Bin Laden's death and U.S Diplomatic facilities everywhere were placed on high alert a senior U.S official said.152 Crowds gathered outside the White House and in New York City's Time Square to celebrate Bin Laden's death.153 Attacks Main article: Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks Map of major attacks attributed to al-Qaeda: 1. The Pentagon US  Sep 11 2001 2. World Trade Center US  Sep 11 2001 3. Istanbul Turkey  Nov 15 2003; Nov 20 2003 4. Aden Yemen  Oct 12 2000 5. Nairobi Kenya  Aug 7 1998 6. Dar es Salaam Tanzania  Aug 7 1998 Al-Qaeda has carried out a total of six major terrorist attacks four of them in its jihad against America. In each case the leadership planned the attack years in advance arranging for the shipment of weapons and explosives and using its privatized businesses to provide operatives with safehouses and false identities. Al-Qaeda usually does not disburse funds for attacks and very rarely makes wire transfers.154 1992 On December 29 1992 al-Qaeda's first terrorist attack took place as two bombs were detonated in Aden Yemen. The first target was the Movenpick Hotel and the second was the parking lot of the Goldmohur Hotel. The bombings were an attempt to eliminate American soldiers on their way to Somalia to take part in the international famine relief effort Operation Restore Hope. Internally al-Qaeda considered the bombing a victory that frightened the Americans away but in the U.S. the attack was barely noticed. No Americans were killed because the soldiers were staying in a different hotel altogether and they went on to Somalia as scheduled. However little noticed the attack was pivotal as it was the beginning of al-Qaeda's change in direction from fighting armies to killing civilians.155 Two people were killed in the bombing an Australian tourist and a Yemeni hotel worker. Seven others mostly Yemenis were severely injured. Two fatwas are said to have been appointed by the most theologically knowledgeable of al-Qaeda's members Mamdouh Mahmud Salim to justify the killings according to Islamic law. Salim referred to a famous fatwa appointed by Ibn Taymiyyah a 13th-century scholar much admired by Wahhabis which sanctioned resistance by any means during the Mongol invasions.156unreliable source 1993 World Trade Center bombing Ramzi Yousef Main article: World Trade Center bombing In 1993 Ramzi Yousef used a truck bomb to attack the World Trade Center in New York City. The attack was intended to break the foundation of Tower One knocking it into Tower Two bringing the entire complex down. Yousef hoped this would kill 250000 people. The towers shook and swayed but the foundation held and he succeeded in killing only six people (although he injured 1042 others and caused nearly $300 million in property damage).157158page needed After the attack Yousef fled to Pakistan and later moved to Manila. There he began developing the Bojinka Plot plans to implode a dozen American airliners simultaneously to assassinate Pope John Paul II and President Bill Clinton and to crash a private plane into CIA headquarters. He was later captured in Pakistan.157 None of the U.S. government's indictments against bin Laden have suggested that he had any connection with this bombing but Ramzi Yousef is known to have attended a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. After his capture Yousef declared that his primary justification for the attack was to punish the U.S. for its support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and made no mention of any religious motivations.158 Late 1990s 1998 Nairobi embassy bombing Main articles: 1998 United States embassy bombings and USS Cole bombing In 1996 bin Laden personally engineered a plot to assassinate Clinton while the president was in Manila for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. However intelligence agents intercepted a message just minutes before the motorcade was to leave and alerted the U.S. Secret Service. Agents later discovered a bomb planted under a bridge.159 The 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa resulting in upward of 300 deaths mostly locals. A barrage of cruise missiles launched by the U.S. military in response devastated an al-Qaeda base in Khost Afghanistan but the network's capacity was unharmed. In October 2000 al-Qaeda militants in Yemen bombed the missile destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a suicide attack killing 17 U.S. servicemen and damaging the vessel while it lay offshore. Inspired by the success of such a brazen attack al-Qaeda's command core began to prepare for an attack on the U.S. itself. September 11 2001 attacks Main article: September 11 attacks See also: Responsibility for the September 11 attacks Aftermath of the September 11 attacks The September 11 2001 attacks were the most devastating terrorist acts in American history killing approximately 3000 people. Two commercial airliners were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center towers a third into The Pentagon and a fourth originally intended to target the U.S. Capitol crashed in a field in Shanksville Pennsylvania. The attacks were conducted by al-Qaeda acting in accord with the 1998 fatwa issued against the U.S. and its allies by military forces under the command of bin Laden al-Zawahiri and others.160 Evidence points to suicide squads led by al-Qaeda military commander Mohamed Atta as the culprits of the attacks with bin Laden Ayman al-Zawahiri Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Hambali as the key planners and part of the political and military command. Messages issued by bin Laden after September 11 2001 praised the attacks and explained their motivation while denying any involvement.161 Bin Laden legitimized the attacks by identifying grievances felt by both mainstream and Islamist Muslims such as the general perception that the U.S. was actively oppressing Muslims.162 Bin Laden asserted that America was massacring Muslims in 'Palestine Chechnya Kashmir and Iraq' and that Muslims should retain the 'right to attack in reprisal'. He also claimed the 9/11 attacks were not targeted at women and children but 'America's icons of military and economic power'.163 Evidence has since come to light that the original targets for the attack may have been nuclear power stations on the east coast of the U.S. The targets were later altered by al-Qaeda as it was feared that such an attack "might get out of hand".164165 Designation as terrorist organization Al-Qaeda has been designated a terrorist organization by the following countries and international organizations: Australia166 Canada167 European Union168 France169 India170 Ireland Israel171 Japan172 Netherlands173 NATO174175 Philippinescitation needed Russia176 South Korea177 Sweden178 Switzerland179 Turkey180 United Kingdom181 United Nations Security Council182 United States183 War on Terrorism Main article: War on Terror In the immediate aftermath of the attacks the U.S. government decided to respond militarily and began to prepare its armed forces to overthrow the Taliban regime it believed was harboring al-Qaeda. Before the U.S. attacked it offered Taliban leader Mullah Omar a chance to surrender bin Laden and his top associates. The first forces to be inserted into Afghanistan were Paramilitary Officers from the CIA's elite Special Activities Division (SAD). The Taliban offered to turn over bin Laden to a neutral country for trial if the U.S. would provide evidence of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks. U.S. President George W. Bush responded by saying: "We know he's guilty. Turn him over"184 and British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned the Taliban regime: "Surrender bin Laden or surrender power".185 Soon thereafter the U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan and together with the Afghan Northern Alliance removed the Taliban government in the war in Afghanistan. U.S. troops in Afghanistan As a result of the U.S. using its special forces and providing air support for the Northern Alliance ground forces both Taliban and al-Qaeda training camps were destroyed and much of the operating structure of al-Qaeda is believed to have been disrupted. After being driven from their key positions in the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan many al-Qaeda fighters tried to regroup in the rugged Gardez region of the nation. Again under the cover of intense aerial bombardment U.S. infantry and local Afghan forces attacked shattering the al-Qaeda position and killing or capturing many of the militants. By early 2002 al-Qaeda had been dealt a serious blow to its operational capacity and the Afghan invasion appeared an initial success. Nevertheless a significant Taliban insurgency remains in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda's top two leaders bin Laden and al-Zawahiri evaded capture. Debate raged about the exact nature of al-Qaeda's role in the 9/11 attacks and after the U.S. invasion began the U.S. State Department also released a videotape showing bin Laden speaking with a small group of associates somewhere in Afghanistan shortly before the Taliban was removed from power.186 Although its authenticity has been questioned by some187 the tape appears to implicate bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the September 11 attacks and was aired on many television channels all over the world with an accompanying English translation provided by the U.S. Defense Department. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed In September 2004 the US government 9/11 Commission investigating the September 11 attacks officially concluded that the attacks were conceived and implemented by al-Qaeda operatives.188 In October 2004 bin Laden appeared to claim responsibility for the attacks in a videotape released through Al Jazeera saying he was inspired by Israeli attacks on high-rises in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon: "As I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children."189 By the end of 2004 the U.S. government proclaimed that two-thirds of the most senior al-Qaeda figures from 2001 had been captured and interrogated by the CIA: Abu Zubaydah Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002;190 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in 2003; and Saif al Islam el Masry in 2004.citation needed Mohammed Atef and several others were killed. Activities Africa Main article: Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa Front page of The Guardian Weekly on the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The article claimed that al-Qaeda's activity is "increasingly dispersed to 'affiliates' or 'franchises' in Yemen and North Africa."191 Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa has included a number of bombing attacks in North Africa as well as supporting parties in civil wars in Eritrea and Somalia. From 1991 to 1996 bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders were based in Sudan. Islamist rebels in the Sahara calling themselves Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have stepped up their violence in recent years.192 French officialscitation needed say the rebels have no real links to the al-Qaeda leadership but this is a matter of some dispute in the international press and amongst security analysts. It seems likely that bin Laden approved the group's name in late 2006 and the rebels "took on the al Qaeda franchise label" almost a year before the violence began to escalate.193 Europe Main article: Al-Qaeda involvement in Europe In 2003 Islamists carried out a series of bombings in Istanbul killing fifty-seven people and injuring seven hundred. Seventy-four people were charged by the Turkish authorities. Some had previously met Bin Laden and though they specifically declined to pledge allegiance to al-Qaeda they asked for its blessing and help.194195 In 2009 three Londoners Tanvir Hussain Assad Sarwar and Ahmed Abdullah Ali were convicted of conspiring to detonate bombs disguised as soft drinks on seven airplanes bound for Canada and the U.S. The massively complex police and MI5 investigation of the plot involved more than a year of surveillance work conducted by over two hundred officers.196197 British and U.S. officials said the planunlike many recent homegrown European terrorist plotswas directly linked to al-Qaeda and guided by senior Islamic militants in Pakistan.198199 Arab world Main articles: Al-Qaeda involvement in the Middle East Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and USS Cole bombing USS Cole after the October 2000 attack Following Yemeni unification in 1990 Wahhabi networks began moving missionaries into the country in an effort to subvert the capitalist north. Although it is unlikely bin Laden or Saudi al-Qaeda were directly involved the personal connections they made would be established over the next decade and used in the USS Cole bombing.200citation needed Concerns grow over Al Qaeda's group in Yemen.201 In Iraq al-Qaeda forces loosely associated with the leadership were embedded in the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad organization commanded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Specializing in suicide operations they have been a "key driver" of the Sunni insurgency.202 Although they played a small part in the overall insurgency between 30% and 42% of all suicide bombings which took place in the early years were claimed by Zarqawi's organization.203 Reports have indicated that oversights such as the failure to control access to the Qa'qaa munitions factory in Yusufiyah have allowed large quantities of munitions to fall into the hands of al-Qaida.204 In November 2010 the Islamic State of Iraq militant group which is linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq threatened to "exterminate Iraqi Christians".205206 Significantly it was not until the late 1990s that al-Qaeda began training Palestinians. This is not to suggest that resistance fighters are underrepresented in the network as a number of Palestinians mostly coming from Jordan wanted to join and have risen to serve high-profile roles in Afghanistan.207 Rather large groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadwhich cooperate with al-Qaeda in many respectshave had difficulties accepting a strategic alliance fearing that al-Qaeda will co-opt their smaller cells. This may have changed recently as Israeli security and intelligence services believe al-Qaeda has managed to infiltrate operatives from the Occupied Territories into Israel and is waiting for the right time to mount an attack.207 Kashmir Main article: Kashmir conflict Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri consider India to be a part of the Crusader-Zionist-Hindu conspiracy against the Islamic world.208 According to the 2005 report 'Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment' by Congressional Research Service bin Laden was involved in training militants for Jihad in Kashmir while living in Sudan in the early nineties. By 2001 Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen had become a part of the al-Qaeda coalition.209 According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees al-Qaeda is thought to have established bases in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the 1999 Kargil War and continues to operate there with tacit approval of Pakistan's Intelligence services.210 Many of the militants active in Kashmir were trained in the same Madrasahs as Taliban and al-Qaeda. Fazlur Rehman Khalil of Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was a signatory of al-Qaeda's 1998 declaration of Jihad against America and its allies.211 In a 'Letter to American People' written by bin Laden in 2002 he stated that one of the reasons he was fighting America is because of her support to India on the Kashmir issue.212213 In November 2001 Kathmandu airport went on high alert after threats that Bin Laden planned to hijack a plane from there and crash it into a target in New Delhi.214 In 2002 U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on a trip to Delhi suggested that al-Qaeda was active in Kashmir though he did not have any hard evidence.215216 He proposed hi tech ground sensors along the line of control to prevent militants from infiltrating into Indian administered Kashmir.216 An investigation in 2002 unearthed evidence that al-Qaeda and its affiliates were prospering in Pakistan-administered Kashmir with tacit approval of Pakistan's National Intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence217 In 2002 a special team of Special Air Service and Delta Force was sent into Indian Administered Kashmir to hunt for Bin Laden after reports that he was being sheltered by Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen which had previously been responsible for 1995 Kidnapping of western tourists in Kashmir.218 Britain's highest ranking al-Qaeda operative Rangzieb Ahmed had previously fought in Kashmir with the group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and spent time in Indian prison after being captured in Kashmir.219 U.S. officials believe that al-Qaeda was helping organize a campaign of terror in Kashmir in order to provoke conflict between India and Pakistan.220 Their strategy was to force Pakistan to move its troops to the border with India thereby relieving pressure on al-Qaeda elements hiding in northwestern Pakistan.221 In 2006 al-Qaeda claimed they had established a wing in Kashmir; this has worried the Indian government.211222 However the Indian Army Lt. Gen. H.S. Panag GOC-in-C Northern Command said to reporters that the army has ruled out the presence of al-Qaeda in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir; furthermore he said that there is nothing that can verify reports from the media of al-Qaeda presence in the state. He however stated that al-Qaeda had strong ties with Kashmiri militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed based in Pakistan.223 It has been noted that Waziristan has now become the new battlefield for Kashmiri militants fighting NATO in support of al-Qaeda and Taliban.224225226 Dhiren Barot who wrote the Army of Madinah In Kashmir227 and was an al-Qaeda operative convicted for involvement in the 2004 financial buildings plot had received training in weapons and explosives at a militant training camp in Kashmir.228 Maulana Masood Azhar the founder of another Kashmiri group Jaish-e-Mohammed is believed to have met bin Laden several times and received funding from him.211 In 2002 Jaish-e-Mohammed organized the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl in an operation run in conjunction with al-Qaeda and funded by Bin Laden.229 According to American counter-terrorism expert Bruce Riedel al-Qaeda and Taliban were closely involved in the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 to Kandahar which led to the release of Maulana Masood Azhar & Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh from an Indian prison in exchange for the passengers. This hijacking Riedel stated was rightly described by then Indian Foreign minister Jaswant Singh as a 'dress rehearsal' for September 11 attacks.230 Bin laden personally welcomed Azhar and threw a lavish party in his honor after his release according to Abu Jandal bodyguard of Bin Laden.231232 Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who had been in Indian prison for his role in 1994 kidnappings of Western tourists in India went on to murder Daniel Pearl and was sentenced to death by Pakistan. Al-Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf who was one of the accused in 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was related to Maulana Masood Azhar by marriage.233 Lashkar-e-Taiba a Kashmiri militant group which is thought to be behind 2008 Mumbai attacks is also known to have strong ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders living in Pakistan.234 In Late 2002 top al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was arrested while being sheltered by Lashkar-e-Taiba in a safe house in Faisalabad.235 The FBI believes that al-Qaeda and Lashkar have been 'intertwined' for a long time while the CIA has said that al-Qaeda funds Lashkar-e-Taiba.235 French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguire who was the top French counter-terrorism official told Reuters in 2009 that 'Lashkar-e-Taiba is no longer a Pakistani movement with only a Kashmir political or military agenda. Lashkar-e-Taiba is a member of al-Qaeda.'236237 In a video released in 2008 senior al-Qaeda operative American-born Adam Yahiye Gadahn stated that "victory in Kashmir has been delayed for years; it is the liberation of the jihad there from this interference which Allah willing will be the first step towards victory over the Hindu occupiers of that Islam land."238 In September 2009 a U.S. Drone strike reportedly killed Ilyas Kashmiri who was the chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami a Kashmiri militant group associated with al-Qaeda.239 Kashmiri was described by Bruce Riedel as a 'prominent' al-Qaeda member240 while others have described him as head of military operations for al-Qaeda.241242 Kashmiri was also charged by the U.S. in a plot against Jyllands-Posten the Danish newspaper which was at the center of Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.243 U.S. officials also believe that Kashmiri was involved in the Camp Chapman attack against the CIA.244 In January 2010 Indian authorities notified Britain of an al-Qaeda plot to hijack an Indian airlines or Air India plane and crash it into a British city. This information was uncovered from interrogation of Amjad Khwaja an operative of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami who had been arrested in India.245 In January 2010 U.S. Defense secretary Robert Gates while on a visit to Pakistan stated that al-Qaeda was seeking to destabilize the region and planning to provoke a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.246 Internet Timothy L. Thomas claims that in the wake of its evacuation from Afghanistan al-Qaeda and its successors have migrated online to escape detection in an atmosphere of increased international vigilance. As a result the organization's use of the Internet has grown more sophisticated encompassing financing recruitment networking mobilization publicity as well as information dissemination gathering and sharing.247 Abu Ayyub al-Masri Abu Ayyub al-Masris al-Qaeda movement in Iraq regularly releases short videos glorifying the activity of jihadist suicide bombers. In addition both before and after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq) the umbrella organization to which al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs the Mujahideen Shura Council has a regular presence on the Web. The range of multimedia content includes guerrilla training clips stills of victims about to be murdered testimonials of suicide bombers and videos that show participation in jihad through stylized portraits of mosques and musical scores. A website associated with al-Qaeda posted a video of captured American entrepreneur Nick Berg being decapitated in Iraq. Other decapitation videos and pictures including those of Paul Johnson Kim Sun-il and Daniel Pearl were first posted on jihadist websites. In December 2004 an audio message claiming to be from Bin Laden was posted directly to a website rather than sending a copy to al Jazeera as he had done in the past. Al-Qaeda turned to the Internet for release of its videos in order to be certain it would be available unedited rather than risk the possibility of al Jazeera editors editing the videos and cutting out anything critical of the Saudi royal family.248 Bin Laden's December 2004 message was much more vehement than usual in this speech lasting over an hour. In the past Alneda.com and Jehad.net were perhaps the most significant al-Qaeda websites. Alneda was initially taken down by American Jon Messner but the operators resisted by shifting the site to various servers and strategically shifting content. The U.S. is currently attempting to extradite a British information technology specialist Babar Ahmad on charges of operating a network of English-language al-Qaeda websites such as Azzam.com.249250 Ahmad's extradition is opposed by various British Muslim organizations such as the Muslim Association of Britain. Aviation network Al-Qaeda is believed to be operating a clandestine aviation network including several Boeing 727 aircraft turboprops and executive jets according to a Reuters story. Based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report the story said that al-Qaeda is possibly using aircraft to transport drugs and weapons from South America to various unstable countries in West Africa. A Boeing 727 can carry up to 10 tons of cargo. The drugs eventually are smuggled to Europe for distribution and sale and the weapons are used in conflicts in Africa and possibly elsewhere. Gunmen with links to al-Qaeda have been increasingly kidnapping some Europeans for ransom. The profits from the drug and weapon sales and kidnappings can in turn fund more terrorism activities.251 Alleged CIA involvement Main article: Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden Experts debate whether or not the al-Qaeda attacks were blowback from the American CIA's "Operation Cyclone" program to help the Afghan mujahideen. Robin Cook British Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001 has written that al-Qaeda and Bin Laden were "a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies" and that "Al-Qaida literally "the database" was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."252 Munir Akram Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations from 2002 to 2008 wrote in a letter published in the New York Times on January 19 2008: The strategy to support the Afghans against Soviet military intervention was evolved by several intelligence agencies including the C.I.A. and Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI. After the Soviet withdrawal the Western powers walked away from the region leaving behind 40000 militants imported from several countries to wage the anti-Soviet jihad. Pakistan was left to face the blowback of extremism drugs and guns.253 A variety of sourcesCNN journalist Peter Bergen Pakistani ISI Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf and CIA operatives involved in the Afghan program such as Vincent Cannistrarodeny that the CIA or other American officials had contact with the foreign mujahideen or Bin Laden let alone armed trained coached or indoctrinated them. This runs counter to the account of Milton Bearden the CIA Field Officer for Afghanistan from 1985 to 1989 who distinctly recalls the unease he used to feel when meeting the Jihadi fighters: "The only times that I ran into any real trouble in Afghanistan was when I ran into 'these guys'  You know there'd be kind of a 'moment' or two that would look a little bit like the bar scene in Star Wars ya know. Each group kinda jockeying around and finally somebody has to diffuse sic the situation."254 But Bergen and others argue that there was no need to recruit foreigners unfamiliar with the local language customs or lay of the land since there were a quarter of a million local Afghans willing to fight;255 that foreign mujahideen themselves had no need for American funds since they received several hundred million dollars a year from non-American Muslim sources; that Americans could not have trained mujahideen because Pakistani officials would not allow more than a handful of them to operate in Pakistan and none in Afghanistan; and that the Afghan Arabs were almost invariably militant Islamists reflexively hostile to Westerners whether or not the Westerners were helping the Muslim Afghans. According to Peter Bergen known for conducting the first television interview with bin Laden in 1997 the idea that "the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden ...is a folk myth. There's no evidence of this. ... Bin Laden had his own money he was anti-American and he was operating secretly and independently. ... The real story here is the CIA didn't really have a clue about who this guy was until 1996 when they set up a unit to really start tracking him."256 But as Bergen himself admitted in one "strange incident" the CIA did appear to give visa help to mujahideen-recruiter Omar Abdel-Rahman.257 Criticism According to a number of sources there has been a "wave of revulsion" against al-Qaeda and its affiliates by "religious scholars former fighters and militants" alarmed by al-Qaeda's takfir and killing of Muslims in Muslim countries especially Iraq.258 Noman Benotman a former Afghan Arab and militant of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group went public with an open letter of criticism to Ayman al-Zawahiri in November 2007 after persuading imprisoned senior leadership of his former group to enter into peace negotiations with the Libyan regime. While Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the affiliation of the group with al-Qaeda in November 2007 the Libyan government released 90 members of the group from prison several months later after "they were said to have renounced violence."259 In 2007 around the sixth anniversary of September 11 and a couple of months before Rationalizing Jihad first appeared in the newspapers77 the Saudi sheikh Salman al-Ouda delivered a personal rebuke to bin Laden. Al-Ouda a religious scholar and one of the fathers of the Sahwa the fundamentalist awakening movement that swept through Saudi Arabia in the 1980s is a widely respected critic of jihadism.citation needed Al-Ouda addressed al-Qaeda's leader on television asking him My brother Osama how much blood has been spilt How many innocent people children elderly and women have been killed ... in the name of al-Qaeda Will you be happy to meet God Almighty carrying the burden of these hundreds of thousands or millions of victims on your back260 According to Pew polls support for al-Qaeda has been dropping around the Muslim world in the years leading to 2008.261 The numbers supporting suicide bombings in Indonesia Lebanon and Bangladesh for instance have dropped by half or more in the last five years. In Saudi Arabia only 10 percent now have a favorable view of al-Qaeda according to a December poll by Terror Free Tomorrow a Washington-based think tank.262 In 2007 the imprisoned Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif an influential Afghan Arab "ideological godfather of al-Qaeda" and former supporter of takfir sensationally withdrew his support from al-Qaeda with a book Wathiqat Tarshid Al-'Aml Al-Jihadi fi Misr w'Al-'Alam (Rationalizing Jihad in Egypt and the World). Although once associated with al-Qaeda in September 2009 LIFG completed a new "code" for jihad a 417-page religious document entitled "Corrective Studies". Given its credibility and the fact that several other prominent Jihadists in the Middle East have turned against al-Qaeda the LIFG's about face may be an important step toward staunching al-Qaeda's recruitment.263 See also Al Qaeda Network Exord Bin Laden Issue Station (former CIA unit for tracking Bin Laden) Bosnian mujahideen Fataw of Osama bin Laden List of designated terrorist organizations Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Operation Cannonball Pakistan and state terrorism Psychological warfare Religious terrorism Steven Emerson Takfir wal-Hijra Terrorist organizations as destructive cults Videos of Osama bin Laden Publications: Al Qaeda Handbook Management of Savagery References Atwan 2006 p. 40 "Foreign Terrorist Organizations List". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on July 12 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070712193357/http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/2002/12535.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-03.   USSD Foreign Terrorist Organization "Terrorism Act 2000". Home Office. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/20000011.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-14.   Terrorism Act 2000 "Council Decision". Council of the European Union. Archived from the original on July 14 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070714142855/http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/45394.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-14.  "The Al Qaeda Clubhouse: Members lacking By Ken Silverstein (Harper's Magazine)". Harpers.org. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/07/sb-al-qaeda-new-members-badly-needed-1151963690. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  Bergen 2006 p. 75. United States v. Usama bin Laden et al. S (7) 98 Cr. 1023 Testimony of Jamal Ahmed Mohamed al-Fadl (S.D.N.Y. 6 February 2001). Text Gunaratna 2002 pp. 9596. "Al-Qaeda's global network as we know it today was created while it was based in Khartoum from December 1991 till May 1996. To coordinate its overt and covert operations as Al-Qaeda's ambitions and resources increased it developed a decentralized regional structure. ... As a global multinational Al-Qaeda makes its constituent nationalities and ethnic groups of which there are several dozen responsible for a particular geographic region. Although its modus operandi is cellular familial relationships play a key role." See also: Nam Moiss (January/February 2003). "The Five Wars of Globalization". Foreign Policy (134): 2837.  "How al Qaeda works: What the organization's subsidiaries say about its strength" by Leah Farrall Foreign Affairs March/April 2011 Wright 2006 pp. 107108 185 270271 Wright 2006 p. 270. Fu'ad Husayn Al-Zarqawi ... "The Second Generation of al-Qaida Part Fourteen" Al-Quds al-Arabi July 13 2005 Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South East and Southeast Asia - (2011) - Barbara A. Weightman Security strategy and transatlantic relations (2006) Roland Dannreuther Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror (2011) Alia Brahimi The Washington Post May 2 2011 page A6. al-Hammadi Khalid The Inside Story of al-Qa'ida part 4 Al-Quds al-Arabi March 22 2005 Aug 13 2004 (2004-08-13). "Evolution of the al-Qaeda brand name". Atimes.com. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/MiddleEast/FH13Ak05.html. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  "The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism  SPRING 2006" (PDF). http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06springatran.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  a b Blitz James (January 19 2010). "A threat transformed". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af31e344-0499-11df-8603-00144feabdc0.html. Retrieved January 23 2010.  a b McGeary 2001. Anderson Curt (2010-08-06). ""New al-Qaeda leader lived in U.S. for years" by Curt Anderson August 6 2010 Associated Press". Usatoday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-08-06-al-qaeda-leaderN.htm. 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"Msn News  Bin Laden allegedly planned attack in Turkey  Stymied by tight security at U.S. bases militants switched targets". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3735645/. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  Gardham Duncan (2009-09-08). "Gang is brought to justice by most complex operation since the war". The Daily Telegraph (London): p. 2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6152185/Airline-bomb-plot-investigation-one-of-biggest-since-WW2.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.  Gardham Duncan (2009-09-16). "Complex operation brings gang to justice". The Weekly Telegraph (Australian edition issue 947): p. 9.  Milmo Cahal (2009-09-08). "Police watched the plot unfold then pounced". The Independent (London): pp. 24. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-watched-the-plot-unfold-then-pounced-1783388.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.  Press Associated (2009-09-07). "UK court convicts 3 of plot to blow up airliners International Jerusalem Post". Fr.jpost.com. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellitecid1251804512098&pagenameJPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved 2011-05-08.  Sandford Daniel (2009-09-07). "UK Airline plot: Al-Qaeda connection". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uknews/8221375.stm. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  Weir Shelagh (July/September 1997). A Clash of Fundamentalisms: Wahhabism in Yemen. Middle East Report. Middle East Research and Information Project. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer204/weir.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-19 ; cited in Burke Jason (2003). Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror. New York: I.B. Tauris. pp. 128129. ISBN 1850433968.  "Yemen: The Next Front Line Against al Qaeda". CBS News. October 30 2010 Riedel 2008 p. 100. See the following works cited in Riedel 2008 p. 101: Hafez 2007 pp. 9798 Al-Shishani Murad Batal (2005-11-17). "Al-Zarqawi's Rise to Power: Analyzing Tactics and Targets". Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor 3 (22).  Streatfeild Dominic (2011-01-07). "How the US let al-Qaida get its hands on an Iraqi weapons factory". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/07/iraq-weapons-factory-al-qaida-us-failure. Retrieved 7 January 2011.  "CSI Urges Obama to Protect Iraq's Endangered Christian Communitydead link". Yahoo News. November 1 2010. "Iraqi Christians Mourn 58 Dead in Church Siege". CBS News. November 1 2010. a b Gunaratna 2002 p. 150. Terrorism in India and the Global Jihad Brookings Institution 2008-11-30 Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment Congressional Research Service 2005-02-10 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2008-07-02). "Freedom in the World 2008 Kashmir Pakistan 2008-07-02". Unhcr.org. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic463af2212469f2dcf2487ca21a2a0.html. Retrieved 2011-05-08.  a b c Kashmir Militant Extremists Council on Foreign Relations 2009-07-09 Osama bin Laden "letter to the American people" GlobalSecurity.org 2002-11-20 Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' The Guardian 2002-11-24 Osama men plan to target Delhi: Kathmandu receives threat Dawn 2001-11-10 Analysis: Is al-Qaeda in Kashmir BBC 2002-06-13 a b Rumsfeld offers US technology to guard Kashmir border The Sydney Morning Herald 2002-06-14 Al Qaeda thriving in Pakistani Kashmir The Christian Science Monitor 2002-07-02 SAS joins Kashmir hunt for bin Laden The Telegraph 2002-02-23 Al-Qaeda terror trial: Rangzieb Ahmed was highest ranking al-Qaeda operative in Britain The Telegraph. 2008-12-18 Bin Laden's finger on Kashmir trigger CNN 2002-06-12 Taliban al-Qaeda linked to Kashmir USA Today 2002-05-29 Al Qaeda claim of Kashmir link worries India The New York Times2006-07-13 No Al Qaeda presence in Kashmir: Army The Hindu2007-06-18 Ilyas Kashmiri had planned to attack COASdead link The News International 2009-09-18 Waziristan new battlefield for Kashmiri militantsdead link The News International 2008-11-24 Kashmiri militants move to Waziristan open training camps The Indian Express 2008-11-26 Army of Madinah in Kashmir Nine Eleven Finding Answers Foundation How radical Islam turned a schoolboy into a terrorist The Times 2006-11-07 The Long Hunt for Osama The Atlantic October 2004 Al Qaeda Strikes Back Brookings Institution Al-Qaeda involved in Indian plane hijack plot The Hindu 2006-09-18 Osama threw lavish party for Azhar after hijack The Indian Express 2006-09-18 Rashid Rauf: profile of a terror mastermind The Telegraph 2008-11-22 LeT which is based at Muridke near Lahore in Pakistan has networks throughout India and its leadership has close links with core al-Qaeda figures living in Pakistan Focus on Westerners suggests al-Qaeda was pulling strings The Times 2008-11-28 a b Lashkar-e-Taiba Served as Gateway for Western Converts Turning to Jihad The Wall Street Journal 2008-12-04 Lashkar-e-Taiba threat revived after Chicago arrest Dawn 2009-11-20 INTERVIEW-French magistrate details Lashkar's global role Reuters 2009-11-13 'Azzam the American' releases video focusing on Pakistan CNN 2008-10-04 US drones killed two terrorist leaders in Pak Dawn 2009-09-17 Al Qaeda's American Mole Brookings Institution 2009-12-15 Ilyas Kashmiri alive lays out future terror strategy Daily Times (Pakistan) 2009-10-15 United States of America vs Tahawwur Hussain Rana Chicago Tribune US charges Ilyas Kashmiri in Danish newspaper plot Dawn 2010-01-15 US seeks Harkat chief for Khost CIA attackdead link The News International 2010-01-06 Indian hijack plot caused new UK terror alert The Times 2010-01-24 Al Qaeda could provoke new India-Pakistan war: Gates Dawn 2010-01-20 Timothy Thomas "Al Qaeda and the Internet: The Danger of Cyberplanning". Retrieved February 14 2007. Scheuer Michael (January 2008). "Bin Laden Identifies Saudi Arabia as the Enemy of Mujahideen Unity". Terrorism Focus. Jamestown Foundation. http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.phparticleid2373884. dead link Whitlock Craig (2005-08-08). "Briton Used Internet As His Bully Pulpit". The Washington Post: p. A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/07/AR2005080700890.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04.  "Babar Ahmad Indicted on Terrorism Charges". United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut. 2004-10-06. Archived from the original on May 26 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060526115318/http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ct/Press2004/20041006.html. Retrieved 2006-05-29.  Gaynor Tim (2010-01-13). "Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60C3E820100113typepoliticsNews. Retrieved 2011-05-08.  Cook Robin (2005-07-08). "The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means". London: Guardian Unlimited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/012780152383800.html. Retrieved 2005-07-08.  Akram Munir (2008-01-19). "Pakistan Terrorism and Drugs". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/opinion/lweb22pakistan.htmlr1&refopinion. Retrieved 2009-10-17.  The Power of Nightmares part 2. Coll 2005 pp. 145146 155156. Bergen Peter. "Bergen: Bin Laden CIA links hogwash". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/bergen.answers/index.html. Retrieved 2006-08-15.  Bergen 2001 pp. 7273. Bergen & Cruickshank 2008; Wright 2008. Quotes taken from Riedel 2008 pp. 106107 and Bergen & Cruickshank 2008. "Libya releases scores of prisoners APRIL 9 2008". English.aljazeera.net. 2008-04-09. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AA64F530-BCA8-40B0-8226-22154CCD1032.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-22. dead link Bergen & Cruickshank 2008. "Taking Stock of the War on Terror". Realclearpolitics.com. 2008-05-22. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/takingstockinthewaronter.html. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  "December 18 2007 Poll: Most Saudis oppose al Qaeda". Cnn.com. 2007-12-18. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/17/saudi.poll/index.html. Retrieved 2010-03-22.  New jihad code threatens al Qaeda Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank CNN November 10 2009 Further reading Bibliography Atran Scott (2010). Talking to the Enemy: Faith Brotherhood and the (un)making of Terrorists. New York: Ecco Press. ISBN 978-0061344909.  Atwan Abdel Bari (2006). The Secret History of al Qaeda. Berkeley CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520249745.  Basile Mark (May 2004). "Going to the Source: Why Al Qaeda's Financial Network Is Likely to Withstand the Current War on Terrorist Financing". Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (3): 169185. doi:10.1080/10576100490438237.  Benjamin Daniel; Simon Steven (2002). The Age of Sacred Terror (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0375508597.  Bergen Peter (2001). Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (1st ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 0743234952.  Bergen Peter (2006). The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader (2nd ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 0743278925.  Bergen Peter; Cruickshank Paul (2008-06-11). "The Unraveling: The jihadist revolt against bin Laden". The New Republic 238 (10): pp. 1621. http://www.tnr.com/article/the-unraveling. Retrieved 2011-05-04.  Bergen Peter (2011). The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and al-Qaeda. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0743278935.  Bin Laden Osama (2005). Lawrence Bruce. ed. Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. London: Verso. ISBN 1844670457.  Cassidy Robert M. (2006). Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War. Westport CT: Praeger Security International. ISBN 0275989909.  Coll Steve (2005). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA Afghanistan and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10 2001 (2nd ed.). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0143034669.  Esposito John L. (2002). Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195154355.  Gunaratna Rohan (2002). Inside Al Qaeda (1st ed.). London: C. Hurst & Co.. ISBN 1850656711.  Hafez Mohammed M. (March 2007). "Martyrdom Mythology in Iraq: How Jihadists Frame Suicide Terrorism in Videos and Biographies". Terrorism and Political Violence 19 (1): 95115. doi:10.1080/09546550601054873.  Hoffman Bruce (2002). "The Emergence of the New Terrorism". In Tan Andrew; Ramakrishna Kumar. The New Terrorism: Anatomy Trends and Counter-Strategies. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press. pp. 3049. ISBN 9812102108.  Jansen Johannes J.G. (1997). The Dual Nature of Islamic Fundamentalism. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 080143338X.  McGeary Johanna (2001-02-19). "A Traitor's Tale". Time 157 (7): pp. 3637. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0917199923700.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.  Napoleoni Loretta (2003). Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0745321178.  Qutb Sayyid (2003). Milestones. Chicago: Kazi Publications. ISBN 0911119426.  Rashid Ahmed (2002) 2000. Taliban: Militant Islam Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 1860648304.  Reeve Simon (1999). The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef Osama Bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1555534074.  Riedel Bruce (2008). The Search for al Qaeda: Its Leadership Ideology and Future. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 9780815774143.  Sageman Marc (2004). Understanding Terror Networks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812238087.  Trofimov Yaroslav (2006). Faith At War: A Journey On the Frontlines of Islam From Baghdad to Timbuktu. New York: Picador. ISBN 9780805077544.  Wechsler William F. (2001). "Strangling The Hydra: Targeting Al Qaeda's Finances". In Hoge James; Rose Gideon. How Did This Happen Terrorism and the New War. New York: PublicAffairs. pp. 129143. ISBN 1586481304.  Wright Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Knopf. ISBN 037541486X.  Wright Lawrence (2008-06-02). "The Rebellion Within". The New Yorker 84 (16): pp. 3653. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/02/080602fafactwrightcurrentPageall. Retrieved 2009-09-15.  Reviews Akacem Mohammed (August 2005). "Review: Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars behind the Terror Networks". International Journal of Middle East Studies 37 (3): 444445. doi:10.1017/S0020743805362143.  Bale Jeffrey M. (October 2006). "Deciphering Islamism and Terrorism". Middle East Journal 60 (4): 777788.  Government reports Kronstadt K. Allen; Katzman Kenneth (November 2008). "Islamist Militancy in the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Region and U.S. Policy" (PDF). U.S. Congressional Research Service. http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/113202.pdf.  White House (September 2003). "Progress Report on the Global War on Terrorism". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2003-09-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20030922090723/http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/24087.htm.  External links Wikinews has news related to: Al-Qaeda Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Al-Qaeda U.S. Dept. of Justice Al Qaeda Training Manual Al-Qaeda in Oxford Islamic Studies Online Media Peter Taylor. (2007). "War on the West". Age of Terror No. 4 series 1. BBC. Investigating Al-Qaeda BBC News Adam Curtis. (2004). The Power of Nightmares. BBC.  The Power of Nightmares a BBC documentary that describes the origins of Al Qaeda in Qutbism Al Qaeda's New Front from PBS Frontline January 2005 Inside al Qaeda video report by National Geographic Al-Qaida collected news and commentary at The Guardian Al-Qaeda collected news and commentary at The New York Times v d e Al-Qaeda Leadership Saif al-Adel  Ayman al-Zawahiri  Anwar al-Awlaki  Nasir al-Wuhayshi  Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud Attacks 1993 World Trade Center bombing  1998 United States embassy bombings  USS Cole bombing  September 11 attacks  2004 Madrid train bombings  7 July 2005 London bombings  2007 Algiers bombings (April December)  2008 Danish embassy bombing in Islamabad  2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting  Northwest Airlines Flight 253  Cargo planes bomb plot War War in Afghanistan  Iraq War  Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown  Shiite Insurgency in Yemen  Somali Civil War  War in North-West Pakistan  Insurgency in the Maghreb  South Yemen insurgency v d eIslamism Ideology Islamic fundamentalism  Pan-Islamism  Wahabbism  Salafism   Deobandi  Qutbism  Al-Qaedaism/Jihadi international  Talibanization Organisations Muslim Brotherhood  Iranian Revolutionary Guards  Jamaat-e-Islami  Hizb ut-Tahrir  al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya  Egyptian Islamic Jihad  Palestinian Islamic Jihad  National Islamic Front  Islamic Salvation Front  Taliban  Abu Sayyaf  al-Qaeda (In the Arabian Peninsula  In Iraq)  Lashkar-e-Taiba  Armed Islamic Group  Islamic Courts Union  Mahdi Army  Fatah al-Islam  Hamas  Hezbollah  Mill Gr  National Congress (Sudan) Leaders Ibn Taymiyyah  Jamal al-Din al-Afghani  Abul Ala Maududi  Taqiuddin al-Nabhani  Hasan al-Banna  Sayyid Qutb  Omar Abdel-Rahman  Abdullah Yusuf Azzam  Ayman al-Zawahiri  Yusuf al-Qaradawi  Hassan al-Turabi  Safwat al-Shwadify  Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri   Anwar al-Awlaki   Ahmad Yassin Events and controversies Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization  Iranian Revolution  Grand Mosque Seizure  Islamization of the Gaza Strip  Islamic terrorism  Islamofascism  Fatwa on Terrorism  Criticism of Islamism Islamic concepts Sex segregation  Jihad  Shari'a  Caliphate  Islamic republic  Jahiliyya  Hadith  Mujahedeen  Ummah  Kafir  Takfiri  Mahdi  Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists  Political aspects of Islam  Fiqh  Islamic studies   Taqiyya   Ketman Texts Milestones (Qutb)  The System of Islam (Nabhani)  Islamic Government (Khomeini)  The Quranic Concept of War (Malik) v d eWar on Terror Participants Operational ISAF  Operation Enduring Freedom participants  Afghanistan  Northern Alliance  Iraq (Iraqi Armed Forces)  NATO  Pakistan  United Kingdom  United States  Philippines  Ethiopia Targets Al-Qaeda  Osama bin Laden  Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula  Abu Sayyaf  Anwar al-Awlaki  Hamas  Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami  Hezbollah  Hizbul Mujahideen  Islamic Courts Union  Jaish-e-Mohammed  Jemaah Islamiyah  Lashkar-e-Taiba  Mujahideen  Taliban  Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Conflicts Operation Enduring Freedom War in Afghanistan  OEF Philippines  Georgia Train and Equip Program  Georgia Sustainment and Stability  OEF Horn of Africa  OEF Trans Sahara  Drone attacks in Pakistan Other Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002present)  Insurgency in the Philippines  Iraq War  Iraqi insurgency  South Thailand insurgency  Terrorism in Saudi Arabia  War in North-West Pakistan  War in Somalia (20062009)  2007 Lebanon conflict  Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown See also Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse  Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act  Axis of evil  Black sites  Bush Doctrine  The Clash of Civilizations  Combatant Status Review Tribunal  Criticism of the War on Terror  Death of Osama bin Laden  Enhanced interrogation techniques  Torture Memos  Extrajudicial prisoners  Extraordinary rendition  Guantanamo Bay detention camp  Military Commissions Act of 2006  NSA electronic surveillance program  Pakistan's role  Luis Posada Carriles  President's Surveillance Program  Protect America Act of 2007  Targeted killing  Targeted Killing in International Law  Unitary executive theory  Unlawful combatant  USA PATRIOT Act Terrorism  War