Al-Qaida after 9/11 - The War on Terror and the Decade of Demise

How did the War on Terror impact Al-Qaida in the decade after 9/11? This is the first book to analyse the inner workings of the group through the eyes of its mid-level leaders in Pakistan, who were, in practice, running al-Qaida''s affairs when communications with Osama bin Laden were slow or absent. The book relies on a large collection of little-known Arabic primary sources about al-Qaida, including the "Abbottabad documents" - the group''s own, internal communications between 2002-2011. Al-Qaida''s performance is assessed in three areas: the war in Afghanistan; the war in Iraq; and international terrorism. Chapters explain why the group''s contributions to the Afghan war were modest, shows the reasons for Al-Qaida''s inability to influence events in Iraq, and charts its fading ability to organize international terrorist attacks. The Abbottabad documents reveal that Al-Qaida''s demise after 9/11 was not simply the result of effective counterterrorism. Rather, the group''s organizational weaknesses and the fallibilities of individual leaders played a vital role. The book gives us the first glimpse into the instances where bin Laden''s lack of strategy meant al-Qaida''s mid-level leadership had to grapple with the consequences. It also documents the detrimental impact of the relationship between al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Product details

• Authors: Anne Likuski
• Publisher: Tauris, I.B.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 19.02.2026
• EAN: 9780755648573
• ISBN: 978-0-7556-4857-3
• No. of pages: 264
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Contemporary history (1945 to 1989); Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Comparative and international political science; Pakistan, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Terrorism, Geopolitics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Middle Eastern, International Relations, Terrorism, armed struggle, Afghan War, Iraq War, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / Afghan War (2001-2021)