On September 11th, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 US airplanes in a suicide attack
that left nearly 3,000 Americans dead.
This sparked significant anti-terrorism efforts around the globe, especially targeting the
perpetrators of the attacks.
After 14 years, has the US managed to defeat Al Qaeda?
Well, the Islamic extremist group known as Al Qaeda was founded in the 1980s in opposition
to the Soviet Union, which had invaded Afghanistan.
But after the USSR left the region, Al Qaeda’s ideology became more aggressively anti-Western.
Since 1993, Al Qaeda has been responsible for more than 50 deadly terrorist attacks:
These include the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya
and Tanzania and the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
But after the attacks of 2001, the United States and its allies began the “War on
Terror”, seeking to dismantle terrorism in the Middle East.
In particular, foreign policy focused on taking down the leader of Al Qaeda and the mastermind
behind 9/11, Osama bin Laden.
The ensuing conflict sent thousands of US soldiers into Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and
Pakistan.
Then, in 2011, US forces killed bin Laden in Pakistan, contributing to the already declining
stability of the group.
According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, Al Qaeda had been “significantly
degraded” over the last decade, and its “capability to recruit, train, and deploy
operatives for anti-Western attacks has been reduced.”
In 2012, President Barack Obama optimistically claimed that Al Qaeda was “on the run”,
and that its core leaders were “decimated” and “on a path to defeat”.
But, despite losing power in Iraq, Al Qaeda has made a recent resurgence.
President Obama has been careful to note that the group “continues to pursue attacks”,
most notably the January 2015 shooting that targeted the magazine Charlie Hebdo.
And, offshoots from the group have sprung up.
ISIS is currently one of the most powerful and dangerous islamic terrorist groups to
grow directly out of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Around the early 2000s, ISIS split off from its parent organization in order to concentrate
attacks on LOCAL infidels and establish an Islamic State.
Al Qaeda on the other hand, continues its global terrorism efforts to destabilise Western
powers.
Al Qaeda has also led to the creation of other terrorist groups in Africa like Boko Haram
and Al Shabab.
Because of Al Qaeda’s decentralized organizational structure, there are many covert terrorist
cells all over the world.
These have been notoriously hard to root out by law enforcement officials.
And for this reason, Al Qaeda may never be fully eradicated.
Some believe that it is the U.S.’s fault that terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda
or ISIS exist.
Do you agree?
Let us know in the comments below.
You can also watch this video to learn more.
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