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
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