illusion8
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 12,232
- Reaction score
- -20
- Country
- Location
A quarter of a century since it came into existence and 15 years after the al-Qaida burst on the scene with the spectacular bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the outfit continues to be the most powerful driver of global terror.
the outfit has metastasized into a global network of regional and local terror affiliates . It follows a dual track of local agendas tied to ideologies and goals of a pan-Islamist jihad.
The al-Qaida functions through affiliates , both autonomous and linked. Their leaders are local men, such as Pakistan's Bahawal Khan and Mullah Nazir, or Syria's Al-Amir Gazi al-Haj . These could be groups like Tunisia's Ansaral Sharia, or Somalia's Al Shabaab or Ansar Eddine or Boko Haram in Nigeria, Tehreek-e- Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan . All of them function as al-Qaida arms. They wear their affiliation as a badge of honour.
These groups have dodged drone strikes to evolve. They use the new media to coordinate strikes. They share resources and suicide attackers, build weapons, move fighters from distant countries to fight local wars.
The al-Qaida threat in Syria is evident â groups like the Jabhat al Nusra and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya aren't only fighting Bashar Assad, but if Assad were to fall, they'd control Syria's chemical weapons. But in Pakistan , if al-Qaida affiliates dislodge the state, they could be adding mobile nuclear weapons to their arsenal. In Pakistan, al-Qaida affiliations run deep. Closest to it is the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan, which directly threatens the state. Lashkar-e-Taiba , the Haqqani network, Gul Bahadur and Mullah Nazir are more complex. They're as close to al-Qaida as they are to the establishment, which uses them to attack Afghanistan and India.
Within the past month al-Qaida groups received a boost with almost coincidental jailbreaks in Libya, Iraq and Pakistan sending thousands of ****** fighters to places like Syria. Nasir al Wuyashi, AQAP's general manager, promised to free another tranche of jailed militants in Yemen, where the al-Qaida has now struck roots. On July 21, about 500 jihadis were taken out of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, putting a big terror talent pool at the front. On July 30, TTP took out 250 prisoners from a Pakistani jail. On July 28, 1,117 inmates fled Benghazi's Kuafiya prison in Libya.
Analysts say these are clear signs that TTP is re-grouping with a new generation of more violent, better armed, more committed fighters . Syria is the new battlefront . Syria & Iraq affiliates have merged to form ISIL (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), that's claimed series of bombings across Iraq end of Ramadan.
Not far behind is Egypt and Afghanistan, which will be up for grabs after US troops draw down in 2014. But terror watchers are keeping an eye out for Myanmar as well, where the conflicts between Buddhists and the Rohingyas look ripe to be adopted by global jihad.
Al-Qaida still a clear and present danger - Times Of India
