After Boston, Jihadists Celebrated While the World Wept

Al Qaeda - Metro, In Focus

Greeters at BIA Welcome Troops Home for Holiday

Greeters at BIA Welcome Troops Home for Holiday
Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

BANGOR - For a planeload of troops headed back home after a year in Afghanistan, Fourth of July parades and fireworks were beside the point. For them, July 4, 2006, is the day they returned to American soil.

Some 250 members of the U.S. Army 53rd Infantry Brigade deplanned at Bangor International Airport shortly after 4 p.m. after a 19-hour flight from Manus Air Base in Tajikistan.

They were met by about 75 troop greeters from Greater Bangor, who cheered and whistled as the weary soldiers entered the terminal, and who offered them hugs, hospitality and free cell phone use.

The troops had about a two-hour layover in Bangor. Their final destination was the Fort Stewart military base in Savannah, Ga., where they would spend several days before going home to their families.

Spc. Katoria Smith, 22, of Memphis, Tenn., called her grandmother right away. "She's been worried about me," she said. Smith, a financial specialist who worked in an on-base bank, said she was rarely in any danger during her tour of duty. "A couple of times, IEDs [improvised explosive devices] went off so close to us they shook the buildings," she said. "It was scary, but i wasn't ever really in danger."

Among her experiences was a trip to a local orphanage to distribute clothing, pencils, books and other items donated by service members' families. Smith said the people she met in Afghanistan were "very nice", but she was clearly delighted to be headed home to her family and her boyfriend.

While many soldiers socialized in groups, ordered a beer or watched the soccer World Cup in the airport bar, 1st Lt. Jose Otero of Orlando, Fla., sat reading a dog-eared copy of "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror" by Rohan Gunaratna.

The History of Terrorism - From Antiquity to Al Qaeda

Feature in "@ NTU"

Sri Lanka’s Progress on Reconciliation

Professor Rohan Gunratna’s address ‘Reconciliation through Education’ at the National Conference on ‘The role of education in reconciliation’, held in Colombo, on March 13

The course of Sri Lanka’s history changed on May 19, 2009. Since then, there has been significant progress in the area of reconciliation. Sri Lanka witnessed progress in three different areas. First, humanitarian assistance, second, socio-economic development and third, political engagement.

The first step in the national reconciliation process is the rehabilitation of the ex-LTTE cadres, particularly those under 18 years of age. About 12,000 former members of the LTTE underwent rehabilitation. Initially, it was not very clear as to direction Sri Lanka will move, whether it would be retributive justice, whether those LTTE Tigers would be prosecuted or if there would be restorative justice, where they will be rehabilitated and released. I want to share with you that neither the Sri Lankan government nor the Sri Lankan people wanted to prosecute the LTTE Tigers. To ensure future stability and peace in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government decided to rehabilitate and reintegrate 11, 500 LTTE Tigers.

Of the 12,000 LTTE Tigers, about 500 members of the organization were children below 18 years of age. The Sri Lankan government decided to give them opportunities in education. They were almost all educated at the Hindu College in Ratmalana. Today I’m very proud to say that a few hundred of those LTTE Tiger members who underwent rehabilitation have entered university. Some of them have even entered the medical school. This demonstrated the spirit of the Sri Lankan people. Even though they were former combatants, some of them did killings in the North and East and even outside that area, the response of the Sri Lankan public and the government was to rehabilitate and reintegrate them.

Business community

Rehabilitation is the first step in reconciliation. To move beyond this point, Sri Lankan launched a multifaceted reconciliation enterprise. To build harmony, the Kadirgamar Institute created12 different clusters in reconciliation. Reconciliation by engaging the leaders in (1)business, (2) education, (3)information technology, (4) media, (5) religion, (6) community, (7) security, (8) youth, (9) diaspora, (10) women (11) sports and (12) art and culture.

On November 24, 2011, the Kadirgamar Institute convened its inaugural National Conference on Reconciliation. On February 26, the Institute hosted the National Conference on the Role of the Business Community in Reconciliation, a highly successful conference. Many of the key business leaders either invested or decided to invest in the North and the East. A very important Sri Lankan business leader by the name of Eassuwaren helped 52 ex-cadres to get married. He provided the women with sarees, the men with their traditional garments, and cash gifts. A wonderful celebration was held to mark this event.

Eassuwarene has now started a series of enterprises to support the beneficiaries to fully reintegrate into society. They have embarked on certain enterprises that would bring them a livelihood. For example, the making of ‘handunkuru’ or incense sticks. Although they were former members of the LTTE, we don’t refer to them as terrorists. The rejected violence and embraced peace. We call them beneficiaries because they benefited from the reconciliation programme. The rehabilitation programme had six key modes of rehabilitation (1) religious and spiritual rehabilitation (2) educational rehabilitation (3) vocational rehabilitation (4) social and family rehabilitation (5) recreational rehabilitation and (6) psychological rehabilitation.

Learning institutions

Under religious and spiritual rehabilitation, the beneficiaries reflected. They listened to sermons, read religious books and meditated. Under educational rehabilitation, teachers came and taught the beneficiaries. Only about 60 percent of them had only studied up to Ordinary Level. Many were illiterate. The end of the conflict provided these misguided men and women of Sri Lanka a golden opportunities for them to study and transform into productive citizens. In many ways, these rehabilitation centres became learning institutions. Under vocational training programme, the beneficiaries were given opportunities to start a second life. The private sector played a crucial role in building a new set of skills in the beneficiaries. Under social and family rehabilitation, the contact with the family members, including visits became frequent. Under recreational rehabilitation, the beneficiaries played and learnt sport. They didn’t play against any ethnic group, but in mixed teams where they played together and made new friends. Under psychological rehabilitation, the beneficiaries engaged in the creative arts and in mentorship programme. Many important personalities, be they from the government, the private sector, the recreational sector, or media personalities, came and addressed the beneficiaries. These role role models from their own ethnic and religious communities gave them hope.

I personally believe that none of those 11, 500 LTTE Tigers rehabilitated and reintegrated will not go back to violence. They committed and saw what conflict was and they experienced it personally. In my personal opinion, they would lead mainstream lives. Overseas, there is a very small segment of the Tamil community who live in a bubble. I say that they live in a parallel universe. They didn’t experience the reality of what happened in Sri Lanka. Unlike those living in Sri Lanka, a segment of those who live overseas want to Sri Lanka to return to conflict. The way the private sector, community organizations and the government came together in the rehabilitation and the resettlement of the 11, 500 LTTE detainees will create greater stability in the country in the coming months and years.

Exchange programmes

With rehabilitation of the LTTE Tiger members, their thinking was mainstreamed. Similarly, it is very important to make an even greater investment in the general population of the North and East. The 30 year conflict generated tremendous suspicion and mistrust. Due to the bombings and attacks by the LTTE in the South and the military operations in the North, the thinking of the people in the North and South polarized. There was a fragmentation of society and the people started to misunderstand each other.

To build harmony and to bridge this divide, reconciliation is the tool. So reconciliation can be through the business community, university and school teachers and other media. We have also planned a series of events to engage the diverse sectors of society. With the National Conference on the Role of the Youth in Reconciliation, we will engage the youth. With the National Conference on the Role of the Diaspora in Reconciliation, we will engage the diaspora and migrant communities. With the National Conference on the Role of the Arts and Culture in Reconciliation, we will engage the public through song, dance, puppetry and music to build a harmonious living. The arts have mesmerized people across ethnic and religious divides. After years of conflict, these platforms can be harnessed to bring people of diverse communities together.

In the education field, there has been some progress. However, the progress made so far must be consolidated and the efforts must be sustained. For instance, today we have the visionary principals of a number of schools participating in the National Conference on the Role of Education in Reconciliation.

The former Principal of Holy Family Convent, Sister Canice, Javed Yusuf, the former Principal of Zahira College and Nirmalee Wickremasinghe, the Principal of Ladies College played a very important role in bringing people of diverse ethnic and religious communities together. I must say that all these schools have invited children from the North to come and spend time with their brothers and sisters in the South, and similarly the children from these schools have visited the North. To spur reconciliation, the Ladies College can be a model for other schools that do not have exchange programmes. Even before the conflict ended, a number of schools with visionary educators developed models that are worthy of emulation.

Political leaders

Today, the most challenging issue Sri Lanka is facing is to restructure its education system to produce Sri Lankans, and not Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. As an educator himself, the Monitoring MP for Education, Mohan Lal Grero, will understand the educational challenges Sri Lanka is facing. I grew up at Ananda College but I want to tell you that all my friends were Sinhalese and almost all of them were Buddhists. So we grew up as Sinhalese, we did not grow up as Sri Lankans. Similarly, in Tamil schools, the children grew up as Tamils and not as Sri Lankans. The same is with some Muslim schools. So we need to create an education system where the children will grow up as Sri Lankans. They will benefit by coming to know the richness of growing up with brothers and sisters of different Sri Lankan ethnic and religious groups. When they start to learn Tamil or Sinhalese, they will not have mutual mistrust or suspicion of what another ethnic or religious group represent.

A few years before she passed away, together with Prof. Bruce Hofman, one of the leading counter terrorism specialists in the US, I met with Mrs. Bandaranaike. I asked her, “Madam, what caused the ethnic conflict?” She was very clear when she said: “it was the Sinhala-only Act. Then I said, “Madam, it was your husband the late SWRD Banadaranaike who introduced the Act?” She said, “yes, that is true but that divided our country in many ways.”

Key issues

Politicians will always be politicians, whether it is politicians from the current government, Opposition or the TNA. They will always play the ethnic card, the religious card especially close to the elections to get votes. They will suddenly become un-Sri Lankan. It is very important to develop a norm and an ethic in Sri Lankan society against the exploitation of ethnic and the religious differences in our rich society. We must not permit politicians to play the racial and religious card and damage the social fabric of Sri Lanka.

The greatest heritage, every Sri Lankan inherited is harmony. Unfortunately, the political leaders in the North and South exploited the ethnicities and the religiosities of the people for their personal and political advantage.

The politicians made our people racist. As a result, for 30 years the Sri Lankan people could not enjoy and benefit from this great heritage of harmony. Our education system can recreate the ideal Sri Lankan of the future. It is my fervent hope that this conference will spur debate especially among the elite of our vision to build that ideal Sri Lankan. When I travel to the North or to the South or to the East I do not see racism, but I see so much of racism among the elite in Colombo. There has been a significant amount of propaganda in circulation in the capital. In contrast, the people in the rural areas want to live in peace.

When I ask the people in the Vanni, what is it that you need? They will tell me, I need security, I need a job, I need a house to live in and I need to send my children to school.

Addressing such issues should be the focus not dividing Sri Lanka by ethnicity and religion. I think that there should be reflection and discussion about these key issues confronting the ordinary people by the elite and the intellectuals in Colombo.

There are many mistakes that we have made in the last 25 -30 years that created and sustained the Sri Lankan conflict. It is time we take a hard look at what we have done well and the mistakes we need to undo and make progress, so that there will be no relapse or return to conflict.

Access article online at http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/03/26/fea01.asp

Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan: 1 year after bin Laden's death

MANILA, Philippines - Afghanistan may well hold the key for Al-Qaeda’s past and its future.

When US navy seals killed Osama bin Laden a year ago, they discovered a treasure trove of documents that outlined Al-Qaeda’s priorities. US officials told Rappler that among the previously undisclosed documents was a paper by bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, laying out a strategy for Afghanistan after the United States withdraws its troops.

Exactly one year after bin Laden’s death, US President Barack Obama did a stealth visit to Afghanistan and addressed Americans, highlighting the importance this ravaged nation is playing in the global fight against terrorism.

After the decade long Soviet-Afghan war ended in 1989, the Soviets and the US withdrew their forces creating a power vacuum that was filled by mujahideens recruited by bin Laden for a global jihad.

Afghanistan became the crucible of al-Qaeda’s virulent ideology and tactics which spread globally. Now with the withdrawal of 22,000 US troops in September, analysts warned it may well play that role again in the future.

“Al-Qaeda and the Taliban will return to Afghanistan so we will see greater instability in another year’s time,” said Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qaeda and the head of the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research in Singapore.

Two weeks ago, the Taliban launched a coordinated attack on Western embassies, NATO headquarters and Afghan government facilities in Kabul and 3 eastern provinces.

Analysts said the dramatic 18-hour assault was meant to push Afghans to align with the Taliban or risk being on the losing side when 130,000 foreign troops, led by the Americans, complete their withdrawal scheduled for 2014.

“We’re only going to see an increase in these attacks,” said Dipankar Banerjee, founding director of New Delhi’s Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. “It helps [the militants] ensure political dominance in the new order as they slowly take over.”

Before dawn on Wednesday, May 2, Mr. Obama addressed the American people from Bagram Airbase and announced his agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He pledged American support for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of the last American soldiers at the end of 2014, an attempt to end US involvement responsibly.

Symbol, not substance

That’s not enough, according to critics, who said the agreement is more symbol than substance, necessary for Obama’s re-election battle in November. His visit to Afghanistan comes just 4 days before two big campaign rallies kick off his political campaign. Part of his past promises include winding down two costly and unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We are now coming close to the end of al-Qaeda,” Gunaratna told Rappler. “It’s a huge mistake to pander to popular opinion because the people do not know the threat.”

Although al-Qaeda’s core group has largely been decimated in the last 11 years, its ideology continues to spread – spawning a social movement that’s using regional conflicts, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa, Yemen and Southeast Asia, to drive its growth.

Although command central is heavily degraded, the social networks remain, and more groups continue to join. Just two months ago, al-Shabab, a militant group in Somalia, formally joined al-Qaeda, swearing an oath to its new leader, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri.

This week, US authorities warned al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate, AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), may try to bomb US-bound airplanes with explosives hidden in the bodies of terrorists. Experts said AQAP’s master bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, has been working on body bombs – surgically planted explosives in the stomach or rectal cavity.

AQAP was involved in the most recent major attacks on US targets: the “underwear bomb” used in an attempt to take down Northwest flight 253 in 2009 and the “printer bombs” in the failed cargo bomb plot in 2010.

A power vacuum in Afghanistan that would give groups like AQAP and other al-Qaeda affiliates a safe haven to train and plot would repeat what happened in 1989 – a power vacuum that gave birth to al-Qaeda.

“What happened was Afghanistan crumbled, and it became a safe haven,” said Gunaratna. “So the same thing is likely to happen – unless the international community, especially the Western nations that have the discipline and the resources, remain committed to the security and stability of Afghanistan.” - Rappler.com

Access article online at http://www.rappler.com/world/4663-al-qaeda-afghanistan-1-year-after-bin-laden-s-death

Interview by "Focus", Channel 8, Singapore

Indonesia's evolving terror networks

SINGAPORE – Indonesian police raided what they said was a terrorist safehouse on the outskirts of Jakarta Friday, March 30, killing two suspected terrorists. This is the third event in 3 weeks, showing continued activity and highlighting the evolution of Jemaah Islamiyah or JI, Al-Qaeda’s arm in Southeast Asia.

JI is the terrorist network that carried out the deadliest attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

On Thursday, March 29, Indonesia’s top counter-terrorism official, Ansyaad Mbai, linked a package bomb in Paris delivered to the Indonesian embassy on March 21 to this same terrorist network. Mbai identified French national Frederic C Jean Salvi as a suspect. Salvi has been on Indonesia’s wanted list since 2010, discovered during investigations into JI.

“There were strong indications he was involved in the bombing at our mission in Paris,” said Mbai.

This comes after the March 18 shootout in Bali, which killed 5 suspected terrorists. Mbai said the men planned to bomb targets, including the “La Vida Loca” bar.

As global funding dries up, more cells - once part of JI"s network - are turning to crime. Police said the suspects were planning to rob money changers and jewelers to raise money for its attacks.

These raids are part of a pattern that can clearly be linked to the same social network behind Indonesia’s deadliest attacks. The Bali attacks in 2002 were followed a year later by the JW Marriott attack, in 2004 by the Australian embassy attack, the 2nd Bali bombing in 2005 and the 2009 Jakarta hotel attacks.

During a presentation to top security officers of Fortune 500 companies in the International Security Management Association (ISMA) and the US State Department’s Overseas Advisory Council (OSAC), I outlined 3 waves of Islamist terrorism of one social network, Darul Islam, in Indonesia. These 3 waves represent cycles of regeneration and evolution of the same social network.

Waves of terror

Predating Al-Qaeda, the first wave was from 1948 to 1992 when Darul Islam was a nationalist movement for an Islamic state.

The second wave was from 1993 to 2005, when nationalist sentiments were co-opted - and subsumed - by the global jihad. Al-Qaeda coopted Jemaah Islamiyah, built on the Darul Islam network. In turn, JI acted as an umbrella organization which coopted domestic groups in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

The third wave began in 2005 and runs until today, when the JI ideology is dispersed through a social movement, much like Al-Qaeda.

Terror networks are far from static.

They evolve over time, particularly if they’re under siege by law enforcement. In many ways, Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah’s networks evolved the same way after 9/11 and Bali.

Their centralized command structures collapsed, and their operational capabilities were degraded after enough hubs in the networks were killed or captured. Essentially, their top and middle rank leadership were gouged out, damaging each network’s ability to carry out sophisticated large-scale operations.

Still, isolated nodes and cells from the old networks remained and continued to spread the ideology – bringing in new recruits in a more haphazard, decentralized pattern.

In 2010 and 2011, smaller, more ad-hoc, less professional cells carried out attacks without central coordination.

While each network is weaker, it’s harder for law enforcement to predict when and where the next attacks will occur.

JI's self-regeneration

In 2010, smaller, disparate attacks happened more frequently. There remains a constant danger these isolated cells and nodes may spontaneously regenerate some form of a network around them to carry out operations.

This is exactly what happened when Dulmatin returned from the Philippines to Indonesia in 2007. A year later, JI’s emir, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, created a new group he called Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT).

Most of JI’s members followed Ba’asyir, including the remaining Afghan-trained JI members. JAT, according to counterterrorism officials, is JI’s self-regeneration.

“JAT is the new camouflage of JI,” said Mbai, the chief of Indonesia’s National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT). “It has the same leader, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, and most of the key figures of JAT are also JI. So I call this the new jacket of JI.”

In February 2010, Indonesian authorities dismantled a training camp in Aceh created by Dulmatin and Ba’asyir. The foiled terror plot in Bali March 18, say officials, is linked to Ba’asyir and to JAT.

“We are quite surprised by the resilience of this movement,” said Tito Karnavian, the deputy chief of Indonesia’s National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) and former head of police anti-terror force, Densus 88. “Because amidst quite intense operations and raids by us, it still survives.”

In Singapore, Tito pointed out that more men were arrested in 2010 (more than 100) than at any other time – even after the first Bali attacks. Nearly 700 people have been arrested since then with at least 575 prosecuted in court.

Tito said the new groups come from “the same community” – agreeing with the idea that all the groups were part of the old Darul Islam social network.

He said, “it remains a social network, but it’s been divided into two. He identifies the strands as the JI-JAT-Hisbah-Tawhid Wal Jihad and the NII (Negara Islam Indonesia).

Tito pointed out that many JI members arrested since the crackdown began in 2002 were released in 2007. Many of them were re-arrested working with JAT in the Aceh training camp or as part of other foiled plots.

Last month, the United States designated JAT a foreign terrorist organization.

“JAT is the most violent terrorist group in Southeast Asia,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research in Singapore. “The threat is still very significant because the terrorists continue to plan and prepare attacks.” - Rappler.com

Access article online at http://www.rappler.com/world/3200-indonesia-s-evolving-terror-networks

Al-Qaeda Grows in Africa

Somalia’s Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahedeen joined al-Qaeda in February 2012. News of the new union prompted celebrations in southern and central Somalia, areas long controlled by al-Shabaab.

Since the announcement, the frequency of attacks against Somali government and foreign peacekeepers has dramatically increased. Somali Islamists regard al-Qaeda as the vanguard of Islamic movements worldwide. They also attribute the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and their pending departure from Afghanistan to al-Qaeda’s competence. Thus, al-Shabaab hopes this new alliance will help rid Somalia of foreign influence, including foreign forces, and pave the way for the eventual establishment of Islamic law.

Al-Qaeda’s union with al-Shabaab threatens both the Horn of Africa—Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti—and East Africa, which includes Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Although al-Qaeda has suffered massive degradation since Osama bin Laden’s death, its footprint is expanding in Africa. It has already established an ideological and operational presence in three areas on the continent—the Maghreb, the Sahel and West Africa. A large Muslim population, an especially large youth population and porous borders make Africa ripe for ideological extremism and terrorism. Without significant international investment to fight poverty, corruption and poor governance, the influence of al-Qaeda and its associated groups will spread to other parts of Africa in the coming decade.

The Rise of a Union

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), a coalition of Islamist groups in Somalia, occupied much of southern and central Somalia by mid–2006. When the UIC broke up later that year, its military wing—the hardline al-Shabaab—eclipsed its political wing. After imposing strict sharia law in Somalia, al-Shabaab’s religious police enforced a Taliban-style regime: whipping women wearing bras, stoning to death accused adulterers, carrying out amputations for robbery, punishing through floggings and beheadings, and instilling fear through kidnappings, shootings and targeted assassinations.

But al-Shabaab’s hold on the country has weakened over the past five years. As a result, its leadership has gravitated closer to al-Qaeda. Last month’s unity declaration is best understood as the culmination of this process. Al-Shabaab leader Sheikh Mohamed Mukhtar Abdirahman, or "Abu Zubeyr," pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri in a video released by al-Qaeda's media arm. Posted on jihadist forums, the video featured an audio speech from Zubeyr and footage of an address by Zawahiri. Zubeyr informed Zawahiri that al-Shabaab enjoys success and "great fortune" in its jihad in Somalia and congratulated Zawahiri on the "defeat" of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Zawahiri seemed optimistic: "Today, I have glad tidings for the Muslim Ummah that will please the believers and disturb the disbelievers, which is the joining of the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement in Somalia to Qaedat al-Jihad, to support the jihadi unity against the Zio-Crusader campaign and their assistants amongst the treacherous agent rulers."

A History of Cooperation

Relations between al-Qaeda and Somali Islamists date back to the early 1990s, when al-Qaeda made inroads to Somalia following the collapse of the Somali state after a terrible civil war and famine. Al-Qaeda set up a base of operations similar to that in Afghanistan, establishing training camps and conducting a few attacks to spark the imagination of Somali Islamists. Members of al-Shabaab were instructed on terrorist tactics—suicide attacks, roadside bombs, assassinations, poisons—and on developing platforms and disseminating propaganda to radicalize and recruit other Somalis. This cost-effective strategy allowed al-Qaeda to impart its methodology of “martyrdom operations” and its ideology of global jihad to al-Shabaab, effectively sowing the seeds for collaboration between the two groups.

But despite its training operations and involvement in a number of attacks, al-Qaeda failed to gain significant traction in Somalia. In general, Somali leaders did not like al-Qaeda’s strategy of perpetual war. Tribal loyalty, Sufi philosophy and fighting between the factions created an unstable environment for al-Qaeda to establish a permanent base of operations. But all this changed with the Ethiopian intervention in 2006.

Foreign Intervention, Islamist Collaboration

In response to the intervention of U.S.-backed Ethiopian forces (largely Christians) in July 2006, Somali Islamists looked to al-Qaeda for support. Zawahiri responded, calling upon Muslims everywhere to participate in the jihad and provide Somali Muslims with men, experience, money and advice to defeat the Ethiopian forces, whom he referred to as the “slaves of America.” He encouraged members of al-Shabaab to “use ambushes and mines, and raids and suicidal attacks until you rend and eat your prey as the lion does with his prey.” In April 2009, Bin Laden himself framed the conflict in Somalia as a war between Islam and the international crusade.

Determined to break the al-Qaeda–al-Shabaab link, the United States targeted both al-Qaeda leaders and their facilitators in al-Shabaab. Beginning in January 2007, Washington mounted multiple operations, including air strikes, against al-Qaeda operatives and training camps in Somalia. They met with some success, in November 2007 killing Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Hezbollah-trained al-Qaeda leader who had planned attacks in Djibouti and Kenya; and in 2008 taking down al-Shabaab’s military commander. Subsequent U.S. naval strikes targeted Abu Talha’s successor, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. After escaping several raids, Nabhan was killed south of Mogadishu in September 2009 by U.S. Navy SEALs in a helicopter raid staged from a ship. The mission, known as Operation Celestial Balance, presaged the May 2011 killing of Bin Laden—including the fact that the SEALs took his DNA, then disposed of Nabhan’s body at sea.

In 2011, Somali forces killed Nabhan’s successor, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, and his personal assistant, who was both recruiter and financier of the July 2010 double suicide bombing in Kampala that killed seventy-four and injured seventy. But there is still much work to be done; al-Qaeda’s patron Hassan Dahir Aweys, the spiritual leader of al-Shabaab, is still active. To create space for the Transitional Federal Government and the African peacekeepers to stabilize Somalia, the United States must continue to train local forces and hit high-value targets.

What’s Next?

Given the severe challenges confronting al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as in the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula and the Maghreb, news of the al-Shabaab–al-Qaeda union was celebrated by the global jihadi community. The union is not a superficial one; it is the formalization of a relationship of cooperation and collaboration spanning two decades. Al-Shabaab will benefit greatly from al-Qaeda’s support, both in terms of finances and in terms of recruits. As the vanguard of the Muslim militant groups, al-Qaeda leaders have called upon their supporters and sympathizers to support al-Shabaab against the Somali military and the African Union peacekeepers. Al-Qaeda, weakened on many fronts, will benefit from making Somalia a key hub for operations in Africa. The union with al-Shabaab provides al-Qaeda the opportunity to expand into a promising new frontier.

The international community should contain the threat from Somalia by supporting the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and peacekeeping forces. As part of the African Union Mission in Somalia, soldiers from Djibouti, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya will replace Ethiopian forces planning to pull out of Somalia shortly. If these forces fail to confront the new al-Shabaab-al-Qaeda alliance, the consequences for Somalia, Africa and the global fight against terrorism will be dire.

Access article online at http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/al-qaeda-grows-africa-6679?page=show