Al Qaeda Resurgent

Abstract

The failure of al Qaeda to launch a new terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 has led some analysts to maintain that the United States is winning the war on terror. They point to several ways in which the United States and its allies have severely impaired the ability of al Qaeda to direct a global jihadist network. The crushing of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has deprived al Qaeda of a secure training facility. Counterterrorist operations, including continuous monitoring of the jihadists’ electronic communications, have led to the death or capture of several thousand jihadists, disrupted al Qaeda’s financial networks, and limited bin Laden’s ability to build and command a global organization. According to some analysts, bin Ladin’s operational role is now insignificant. Forensic psychiatrist and terrorism expert Marc Sageman has written of the diminishing importance of “al Qaeda Central” and the growing threat posed by the “leaderless jihad” of a scattered network of loosely-knit cells formed by Muslim youths living in the West.¹