For John, BLUF: The perpetrators of the 911 attacks, back in 2001, al-Qaddafi, has not gone away and the US is the focus of their attention. The US is the main enemy . Nothing to see here; just move along.
From Long War Journal, by Mr Thomas Joscelyn, 11 September 2018.
Here is the lede plus three:
Al Qaeda released a new message from its leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 hijackings earlier today. Titled “How to Confront America,” the talk is intended to rally jihadists and supporters against their common perceived enemy. Much of the message is not a how-to so much as it is a restatement of al Qaeda’s anti-American view.In our thinking we need to differentiate between the Taliban (Afghanistan) and al-Qaeda (Global jihad).Zawahiri portrays the US as the chief enemy of Muslims around the globe. Of course, al Qaeda has repeatedly plotted and called for terrorist attacks inside the West. But that is not the only way Zawahiri thinks the jihadists should continue to fight the Americans.
“We must wage the war – in any part of the Islamic World – as if it is a single war with different fronts against a united enemy,” Zawahiri explains. The wars in “the tribal areas in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Mali, Somalia and elsewhere” are not just “between the Muslims and the local governments only,” according to Zawahiri. Instead, these conflicts have “always been between the Muslims and the system of the major international criminals – America being the foremost.”
In Zawahiri’s framework, there is no firm line between al Qaeda’s so-called far and near enemies, as they are all part of the same global war.
We can pull out of Afghanistan, and while that might placate the Taliban, it will not placate al-Qaeda. The terrorist threat will remain.
Hat tip to Defense News, "Early Bird Edition".
Regards — Cliff
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