Where is al qaeda today

Learn more and compare subscriptions content expands above. Full Terms and Conditions apply to all Subscriptions. Or, if you are already a subscriber Sign in. Other options. Close drawer menu Financial Times International Edition. Search the FT Search. Reneging on the pledge is considered a serious offence in Islam.

In al-Qaeda's case, it effectively subordinates it to the Taliban, by bestowing the honorific title of "commander of the faithful" upon the Taliban leader and his successors. One famous example of the flouting of bay'ah came when al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq refused to adhere to its pledge to central command, leading it to break away and later re-emerge as the Islamic State group IS.

Al-Qaeda is not the only jihadist group to offer bay'ah to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban have previously pledged loyalty and recently renewed it after the takeover of Afghanistan. After Bin Laden's death in , his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, offered his pledge of allegiance to Mullah Omar on behalf of al-Qaeda and its regional branches. This was renewed in after IS declared its caliphate in areas of Iraq and Syria.

But in July , the Taliban announced that Mullah Omar had died two years prior. Embarrassingly, al-Zawahiri had offered allegiance to a dead man. Al-Zawahiri renewed his pledge to the new leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, on 13 August , vowing to "wage jihad to liberate every inch of occupied Muslim land". Mansour quickly acknowledged the pledge from "the leader of the international jihadist organisation", an apparent endorsement of al-Qaeda's global jihadist agenda.

This is starkly is at odds with the Taliban's own messaging, which restricts the group to the implementation of Islamic rule in Afghanistan and normal relations with neighbouring states. The ideology of bin Laden and Zawahiri played very little role in the Arab Spring in or the revolutions in Algeria and Sudan this year.

It was criticized as too cautious by the Islamic State; ironically, time has shown that al-Qaida was right not to announce a caliphate or try to control territory. Both al-Qaida and the Islamic State continue to inspire so-called lone wolf attacks by individuals who have no physical connections to either group.

The central jihadi message that Islam is under attack by the West remains a potent one, reinforced by Islamophobia and bans on Muslims. The speed with which ISIS spread underscores how vulnerable the police states of the Middle East are when they become crippled by civil war. The Saudi-Iranian proxy war feeds sectarian tensions and creates failed states in places like Yemen, where al-Qaida can stage a comeback.

The success of the war against al-Qaida has made possible the policy discussion about bringing our troops home from Afghanistan. But it should also underscore the necessity of close counterterrorism cooperation with reliable partners in the Islamic world, not ones that pursue some terrorists while harboring others like Pakistan. The global jihadi threat has been transformed over the last two decades, but vigilance remains essential. An interview with Rita Katz, Executive Director and founder of the SITE Intelligence Group, a non-governmental counterterrorism organization specializing in tracking and analyzing online activity of the global extremist community.

Rita Katz is the Executive Director and founder of the SITE Intelligence Group , a non-governmental counterterrorism organization specializing in tracking and analyzing online activity of the global extremist community. The following is an interview. Al Qaeda is not the same fighting force in Afghanistan that it was when the United States invaded in For years, it has been very weak inside Afghanistan and in neighboring regions. Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent has carried out few attacks, and Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind, the al Qaeda-aligned group in Kashmir, has proven ineffectual so far.

Conditions, including the decline of ISIS, seem more and more conducive for an al Qaeda resurgence throughout the region. For two decades since , the Taliban has offered safe haven to al Qaeda. The Taliban pledged that it would do no such thing, but al Qaeda members were continuously found in Afghanistan. As recently as October , when negotiations on the timetable for withdrawal were under way, Afghan government forces announced the killing of al Qaeda media chief Abu Muhsin al Masri also known as Hussam Abdul Raouf in Ghazni province.

Raouf was no small-time al Qaeda operative; he was a prominent religious authority and propagandist for al Qaeda Central—and just one of many cases of dangerous individuals given refuge by the Taliban. There is universal recognition that al Qaeda can now reinvest in its longstanding safe haven. An alleged al Qaeda-linked figure in Afghanistan described the strong alliance between al Qaeda and the Taliban:. I bear witness that many of the local supporters feared for us more than they feared for themselves…the relationship between the Taliban and the immigrants, especially those who joined them after aligning with them, is a strong and solid relationship that cannot be described with words, let alone wrapped with positions.

One person commented in a pro-al Qaeda group chat:. Image Credit Public Domain. As for the political discourse, the Taliban announced the acceptance of the pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda, and all al Qaeda soldiers are to this day its soldiers, and the Taliban is proud of them and they publish the translation and biography of Sheikh Osama bin Laden in their magazine al Somood, then the ignorant person comes to them and says they are not al Qaeda!!!

Al Qaeda is among them, and they are from them.