Transformation Into Active Al-Qaeda Affiliate
According to U.S. counter-terrorism officials, Anwar al-Awlaki was the main force behind AQAP's decision to transform itself from a regional threat into al-Qaeda's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The percentage of terrorist plots in the West that originated from Pakistan declined considerably from most of them (at the outset), to 75% in 2007, and to 50% in 2010, as al-Qaeda shifted to Somalia and Yemen.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally designated it a terrorist organization on December 14, 2009. On August 25, 2010, The Washington Post said the CIA believed Yemen's branch of al-Qaida had surpassed its parent organization, Osama bin Laden's core group, as a threat to the U.S. homeland.
On August 26, Yemen claimed that U.S. officials had exaggerated the size and danger of al-Qaeda in Yemen, insisting also that fighting the jihadist network's local branch remained Sanaa's job. A former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden warned of an escalation in fighting between al-Qaida and Yemeni authorities, and predicted the government would need outside intervention to stay in power.
However, Ahmed al-Bahri told the Associated Press that attacks by al-Qaida in southern Yemen was an indication of its increasing strength.
Read more about this topic: Al-Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula
Famous quotes containing the words active and/or affiliate:
“Things happen to us, all the time. It was like that for a century, and it is again. It’s not like here: People always do things, because you are born with it; you are brought up in this spirit, the active approach to life: “Stand up and go.” We were not. We were always passive in our lives.”
—Natasha Dudinska (b. c. 1967)
“Reporters for tabloid newspapers beat a path to the park entrance each summer when the national convention of nudists is held, but the cult’s requirement that visitors disrobe is an obstacle to complete coverage of nudist news. Local residents interested in the nudist movement but as yet unwilling to affiliate make observations from rowboats in Great Egg Harbor River.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)