June 14, 2021
Al Qaeda: Background, Current Status, and U.S. Policy
Al Qaeda (AQ) is a transnational Islamist terrorist
Periodic reports that Zawahiri (70) has been ill or died have
organization and network of affiliates that the U.S.
raised questions about the group’s future leadership.
intelligence community describes as one of “the greatest
Zawahiri’s former deputy, Abu Khayr al Masri, was killed
Sunni terrorist threats to U.S. interests overseas” and a
by a U.S. drone strike in Syria in 2017; his successor was
potential source of inspiration to domestic violent
killed in Iran in August 2020, reportedly by Israeli agents.
extremists. Sustained counterterrorism (CT) pressure
Their deaths, and that of Bin Laden’s son Hamza (whose
appears to have weakened the group since it perpetrated the
killing in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region was announced
September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks. In April 2021, the U.S.
by President Trump in 2019), leave Saif al Adl as
intelligence community told Congress that Al Qaeda’s
Zawahiri’s likely successor. Al Adl is reported to reside in
senior leadership “has suffered severe losses in the past few
Iran, which for years has allowed AQ figures to operate on
years” but they expect that remaining leaders will continue
its territory despite occasional enmity between Sunni Al
to plot attacks and seek to exploit conflicts in different
Qaeda and Iran’s Shia Islamic Republic government. AQ
regions. In recent years, U.S. officials have characterized
leaders may view Iran as relatively safe from U.S.
the AQ threat as stemming mainly from its affiliates, which
counterterrorism operations, while Iran may view AQ’s
have generally focused on local issues in their respective
presence as leverage against the United States, as well as an
areas of operation, where they threaten local U.S.
opportunity to support another U.S. adversary.
personnel, interests, and partners.
Structure
Background
Al Qaeda once had a hierarchical organization, a relatively
In 1988, Osama bin Laden established Al Qaeda from a
small and geographically contained membership, and
network of Arab and other foreign veterans of the Afghan
claimed to be the vanguard and global leader of Islamist
insurgency against the Soviet Union, with the aim of
terrorism. The attenuation of AQ core leadership, the
supporting Islamist causes in conflicts around the world.
growth of regional affiliates, and the rise of the Islamic
After the 1991 Gulf War, citing opposition to the decision
State (IS, aka ISIS/ISIL) have changed Al Qaeda greatly.
by Saudi Arabia to host U.S. troops, the group set on the
United States as its primary target. Bin Laden left his native
For years, analysts have debated how to characterize the
Saudi Arabia that year and relocated to Sudan, until the
shifting ties between AQ leaders and groups that have
Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996 and offered
pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda, and among these self-
refuge to AQ members and other armed Islamists.
described affiliates. Some contend that Al Qaeda remains
essentially a centrally governed organization, with the
Al Qaeda conducted a series of terrorist attacks against U.S.
group’s leaders providing marching orders to its various
and allied targets, including the 1998 bombings of U.S.
affiliates; others describe a “hub and spoke” model in
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (after which the United
which leaders provide inspiration, strategic vision, and
States launched airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan and
some financial support but little in the way of direct tactical
Sudan) and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. The
supervision. Still others see the growth of affiliates as
United States designated Al Qaeda as a Foreign Terrorist
having undermined the status and importance of the core,
Organization (FTO) in 1999. After the 9/11 attacks, the
with the affiliates’ respective local interests driving their
United States launched military operations to topple the
actions more than any kind of centrally directed ideology or
Taliban government in Afghanistan and redoubled its CT
program. Al Qaeda may persist as a group that inspires
efforts worldwide. AQ leadership fled to Pakistan, where
ideologically motivated terrorism against U.S. interests
U.S. forces killed Bin Laden in 2011. AQ attacks against
around the world and opportunistically enters (or secures
U.S. and Western targets worldwide continued in the years
the allegiance of participants in) local conflicts. Changes in
after 9/11, but the group has not successfully carried out a
the relative balance of these elements of the group’s
major attack inside the United States since then.
identity and structure may in turn spur changes in the focus
Leadership
of U.S. counterterrorism efforts over time.
AQ’s leader, or emir, is Ayman al Zawahiri, an Egyptian
Status in Afghanistan
who succeeded Bin Laden. Some attribute purported AQ
U.S. officials assess that many AQ core leaders are based in
struggles (including its failure to strike inside the United
Afghanistan, where the group has been weakened but not
States) to what they describe as al Zawahiri’s understated
eliminated. According to a December 2020 Department of
leadership, as compared to Bin Laden’s charisma. Others
argue that Zawahiri’s more restrained approach is an asset
Defense (DOD) report, “AQ’s remaining core leaders pose
a limited threat to U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan
that has created space for AQ affiliates to pursue regionally
because they are focused primarily on survival.”
tailored strategies and make inroads into local communities
and conflicts.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Al Qaeda: Background, Current Status, and U.S. Policy
The Taliban committed to preventing Al Qaeda from using
Burkina Faso, and U.S. officials have expressed concern
Afghan soil as part of the February 2020 U.S.-Taliban
that it may pose an escalating threat to coastal West
agreement under which U.S. troops are being withdrawn
African countries.
from Afghanistan. Still, Al Qaeda’s decades-long ties with
As security conditions in Syria deteriorated in 2011,
the Taliban appear strong. DOD stated in a report released
in April 2021, “The Taliban have maintained mutua
AQI/ISI began operations there as the Nusra Front. The
lly
Nusra Front did not initially acknowledge ties to
beneficial relations with AQ-related organizations and are
unlikely to take substantive action against these groups.”
ISI/AQI but was designated by the State Department as
In
an alias of ISI/AQI in December 2012. The Nusra Front
May 2021, U.N. Afghanistan sanctions monitors reported
soon became one of the most powerful armed groups in
that Al Qaeda “has minimized overt communications with
Syria, and rejected ISI/AQI leader Abu Bakr al
Taliban leadership in an effort to ‘lay low’ and not
Baghdadi’s 2013
jeopardize the Taliban's diplomatic position.”
attempt to subsume the Nusra Front
under his leadership as part of the Islamic State of Iraq
Affiliates
and Syria (ISIS or ISIL, later the Islamic State). In 2017,
the Nusra Front merged with other Syrian factions to
Regional developments, notably the 2003 U.S. invasion of
become Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). In 2018, the
Iraq and the post-2011 instability that engulfed some states
U.S. government amended its FTO designation of the
after Arab Spring-inspired protests, created opportunities
Nusra Front to include HTS. HTS leaders have
for AQ affiliates throughout the Middle East and Africa:
distanced themselves from AQ. An HTS breakoff group,
In 2004, the Iraq-based Jordanian national Abu Musab
Hurras al Din, is seen as closer to AQ.
al Zarqawi formed the first AQ affiliate, Al Qaeda in
Iraq (AQI). AQI was the first AQ affiliate to be
Relation to the Islamic State
designated as an FTO (in 2004). In 2006, AQI renamed
Al Qaeda, through the diverse global network of affiliates
itself the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which in 2011
outlined above, often interacts with other groups, most
expanded to Syria and later declared a global caliphate
notably the Islamic State. While there are some ideological
as the Islamic State.
and tactical similarities between IS and AQ, their
relationship is mostly adversarial and their affiliates have
U.S.-backed Saudi efforts dismantled a nascent AQ
clashed. According to a February 2021 U.N. terrorism
branch in the country by 2005, leaving only scattered
sanctions investigation report, “The fragile consensus
cells remaining. In 2009, these cells united with Yemeni
between Al-Qaida and ISIL to fight a common enemy is
AQ operatives to form Al Qaeda in the Arabia
over, as both groups are now involved in violent
Peninsula (AQAP), designated as an FTO that year.
confrontations” against each other in numerous conflict
AQAP grew rapidly in the context of Yemen’s post-
zones.
2011 instability and civil war. AQAP has attempted,
perhaps more than any other AQ affiliate, to carry out
U.S. Policy Responses
and inspire attacks in the United States and Europe.
The U.S. campaign against Al Qaeda, now in its third
As its international reach grew with affiliates like AQI
decade, spans a wide array of policy areas. The United
and AQAP, Al Qaeda also attracted interest from other
States has conducted airstrikes on AQ targets in at least
likeminded groups. Al Shabaab, a Somali-origin group
seven countries since 2012, and U.S. forces have engaged
designated as an FTO in 2008 whose founders had ties
in ground combat against AQ in Afghanistan, Somalia, and
to Al Qaeda, formally pledged allegiance in 2012. Al
Yemen in recent years. Beyond direct military action, the
Shabaab, which took over territory in central and
U.S. seeks to combat Al Qaeda and other terrorist threats
southern Somalia as an offshoot of a militant wing of
“by, with, and through” local partners. AQ-linked groups
Somalia’s Council of Islamic Courts in the mid-2000s,
are a leading threat to, and target of, countries to which the
has carried out attacks against domestic and
United States has provided millions of dollars in security
international targets in Somalia, as well as in Uganda,
assistance.
Djibouti, and Kenya. In April 2021, DOD officials
described Al Shabaab as “the largest, wealthiest, and
U.S. policymakers also seek to combat Al Qaeda and other
terrorist groups by addressing the drivers of terrorism
most violent Al Qaeda-associated group in the world.”
through counter- and de-radicalization programs, by
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)—Al
countering the financing of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, and
Qaeda’s oldest continually operating affiliate in
by prosecuting individuals in the United States for
Africa—first emerged as a faction in Algeria’s 1990s
providing support to the group and its affiliates. Congress
civil conflict. It pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda and
has addressed the enduring presence of AQ affiliates
rebranded itself as AQIM in 2006-2007. AQIM’s center
through the oversight of executive branch counterterrorism
of gravity moved southward and eastward after 2011,
policies and practices and the authorization and
spawning a number of splinter factions and local
appropriations of U.S. funds for counterterrorism activities.
affiliates. Even as its activity in North Africa has waned,
Ongoing deliberations in Congress about repeal or revision
some of those affiliates have strengthened. The most
of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force
prominent is the Group for Supporting Islam and
(AUMF, P.L. 107-40) may also have implications for U.S.
Muslims (or JNIM, in Arabic), which was formed in
efforts against Al Qaeda and its affiliates.
early 2017 as a merger of AQIM’s Sahel branch and
several AQIM-linked and offshoot groups. Designated
Clayton Thomas, Acting Section Research Manager
as an FTO in 2018, JNIM is primarily active in Mali and
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Al Qaeda: Background, Current Status, and U.S. Policy
IF11854
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