How Al Qaeda Has Regrouped; How Bin Laden Has Survived
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LAHORE, Pakistan — Osama bin Laden could not have imagined as he fled the battlefield in Tora Bora in 2001 that he would have lived to see his 50th birthday.
But he has done that and more — restructuring Al Qaeda despite its losses, creating new bases in Africa and Iraq, expanding into Europe, drawing in thousands of new recruits, reviving the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, and turning Pakistan into Terrorism Central.
Jonathan Evans, the new director-general of Britain’s MI5 and an expert on Al Qaeda, will have a tough time tracking him down.
Last month, American intelligence officials disclosed that Mr. bin Laden had wanted to die fighting in Tora Bora but that they forced him to flee into Pakistan’s mountainous tribal areas.
From here, he and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, have reshaped Al Qaeda. Although Mr. bin Laden takes part in strategic decision making, day-to-day running of the movement is in the hands of Mr. Zawahri, the Egyptian doctor who has placed fellow countrymen in many of the key leadership positions.
Before the September 11, 2001, attacks, senior posts in Al Qaeda were largely staffed by Saudis and Yemenis. There have been rumors of tensions among the Arabs, but Mr. bin Laden has always been weak on organization and is reported to have accepted Mr. Zawahri’s major contribution in Al Qaeda’s revival.
While Mr. bin Laden remains the spiritual and military inspiration, Mr. Zawahri has fashioned a core group of around 100 Arab trainers — experts in explosives, finances, communications, military training, urban warfare, and propaganda.
At least two of London’s July 7 bombers were trained in explosives, while the Taliban have been helped in fund-raising and logistics. Mr. Zawahri, a believer in suicide bombings and attacks on soft targets, has injected these tactics into Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq where they were not part of tradition or culture. Afghanistan saw 139 suicide bombings in 2006.
What unites and inspires the militants remains the global jihad ideology of the original Al Qaeda. Rather than talk about day-to-day events as Mr. Zawahri does, Mr. bin Laden expounds on global jihad — uniting the Muslim world under one leader, spreading Islam, and taking on the West.
