ABSTRACT
Much has been written about Al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden since
11 September 2001 (‘9/11’), although most books and papers have under-
standably focused on the period before that fateful day. Much less has and can
be written about Al Qaeda post 9/11 because it has been driven ‘underground’
as a result of the global war against terrorism. What we do know is that those
remaining members of the Al Qaeda leadership not already arrested or killed
are on the run or in hiding. It seems certain that bin Laden himself is still alive
and probably holed up in Pakistan close to the Afghan border. Other leaders
have dispersed globally and are probably hiding within and moving covertly
between sympathetic Islamic communities right across the Middle East,
Europe, the Far East and Africa. Whilst it is certain that the global war against
terrorism led by the United States has severely impacted Al Qaeda’s
operational capabilities and freedom of maneuver, it has not prevented this
group from reorganizing, as well as recruiting and training limited numbers of
new operatives. The group itself, or its affiliates and those inspired by it, have
also continued to conduct deadly operations in numerous countries, although
so far not on the scale of 9/11.
