Al Qaeda

 Al Qaeda is a global terrorist network whose history dates back to the 1970s during the time of Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. During the 1970s when the Soviet Afghan war was happening the Soviet Union aided the communist Afghan movement. Muslim declared the holy war on the invaders.  This holy war was led by Muslim rebels that were known as Mujahideen, Osama Bin Laden was responsible for providing them with money and guns. Later the movement was joined by Abdallah Azzam. They continued to grow into a large network that was financially equipped such that when the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, they created the Al Qaeda to deal with holy wars arising in the future, but Bin Laden had other plans that included taking the war to other nations. After the death of Azzam Bin Laden was left as the reigning leader of the Al Qaeda (Cragin,2014).

There are certain aspects of Al Qaeda that set them apart or make them similar with other terror groups such as Boko Haram. One of the similarities between these two terror groups is that they exploit the propaganda purpose of pornography violence such as chopping off heads and arms.  The beliefs of Al Qaeda have set them apart from Boko Haram, Al Qaeda are more political since their strategies are politically influenced while Boko Haram are concerned on establishing Gods kingdom mainly in the Nigeria. Al Qaeda has taken its operations global while Boko Haram is mainly in Nigeria (Raineri, & Martini, 2017).

            Al Qaeda is responsible for hijacking four planes on September 11, 2011. This hijacking resulted to a mass murder that left 2,977 people dead. Al Qaeda also attacked two Black Hawk helicopters in 1995 in Mogadishu. This terror group is also responsible for bombing a car that destroyed a building that was leased by the US military while they were in Saudi Arabia in 1995. In 1994 they admitted to bombing the US embassies in East Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. In 2000 the group also took credit for bombing the U.S.S Cole in Yemen where it had stopped to refuel, this bombing killed 17 sailors and injured 39 of them. This group is also responsible for bombing Madrid in 2004, London in 2005. It is also responsible for some failed bombing attempts such as the attempt on Times Square in 2010 (Cragin, 2014)

Currently, Al Qaeda a critical terrorist threat, this was concluded in 2015 when the groups Yemeni affiliates were credited with the bombing of a French magazine the bombing saw 12 people dead.  In 2017 the vice president of Iraq concerned that the terror group was seeking an alliance with ISIS.  They are operating in various parts of the world such as North & East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Despite being located in different parts of the world the leaders of these groups report directly to their current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (Cragin, 2014).

            The United Nations is at the forefront when it comes to fighting terrorists. The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy has Five pillars. These pillars are addressing to eliminate the conditions that create a conducive environment to carry out terrorism, preventing and fighting terrorists, building the capacity of their state members to fight terrorists, and ensuring human rights are not overlooked while fighting terror groups (United Nations, n.d).  These global efforts are enough to contain terrorism since their main five functions are well identified and the United Nations understands the threat of terror groups and they have the will and resources to contain terrorism. The global efforts have also managed to constrict Al Qaeda’s ability to operate (Sawyer, & Foster, 2008).

 

 

 

References

Cragin, R. K. (2014). A Recent History Of Al-Qa'ida. The Historical Journal, 57(3), 803-824.

Raineri, L., & Martini, A. (2017). ISIS and Al-Qaeda as Strategies and Political Imaginaries in    Africa: A Comparison between Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Civil     Wars, 19(4), 425-447.

Sawyer, R., & Foster, M. (2008). The resurgent and persistent threat of al Qaeda. The ANNALS    of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 618(1), 197-211.

United Nations (n.d). UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Retrieved from;             https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/ctitf/en/un-global-counter-terrorism-strategy