When did the US lose Afghanistan?
August 15, 2021, was the day Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, and the US lost the war. Or was it? After following the war for over two decades, it’s become clear that Afghanistan wasn’t lost in...
Battle of Tora Bora
U.S. offers $5 million reward for member of Al Qaeda’s top leadership council
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Op-eds
On eve of 9/11 Anniversary, U.S. officials continue to downplay Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan
On the eve of the 22nd anniversary of Al Qaeda’s deadly attacks on New York and Washington, American intelligence officials further minimized the terror group’s safe haven in Afghanistan and its...
Op-eds
Al Qaeda actively operating training camps in 5 Afghan provinces
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan following the U.S withdrawal in Aug. 2021, Al Qaeda has established training camps in five Afghan provinces, as well as safe houses and other infrastructure across...
Op-eds
FDD’s Long War Journal’s response to Zalmay Khalilzad’s Twitter thread
In a brief Twitter thread responding to a recent article from The Washington Post, Zalmay Khalilzad, one of the key architects of the 2020 Doha Agreement that set the stage for the collapse...
Op-eds
Turkistan Islamic Party leader celebrates Eid in Afghanistan
Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the head of the Al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Turkistan Islamic Party, celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Afghanistan. Abdul Haq’s public presence in Afghanistan directly contradicts...
Op-eds
Osama bin Laden’s security chief triumphantly returns to hometown in Afghanistan
The man who served as Osama bin Laden’s security chief at the battle of Tora Bora triumphantly returned to his home in eastern Afghanistan today, less than two weeks after the country fell to the Taliban....
Op-eds
U.S. transfers Guantánamo detainee who allegedly led forces at Tora Bora
The U.S. State Department announced on July 19 that Abdul Latif Nasir, a detainee held at Guantanamo since 2002, had been transferred to his native country of Morocco. Nasir’s transfer from Guantánamo...
Op-eds
Taliban celebrates 2002 battle in which it defended Al Qaeda
The Taliban eulogized Mullah Saif ur Rahman Mansoor, its commander who led both Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters against U.S. forces at the battle of Shahi Kot in Paktia province in 2002. The celebration of...
Op-eds
The Failures of Operation Enduring Freedom
The chief aim in late 2001 should have been the swift destruction of al-Qaeda. That didn’t happen.
Op-eds
Pentagon Releases 15 ‘High-Risk’ Gitmo Detainees to UAE
The Defense Department has transferred 1...
Op-eds
Two More ‘High’ Risk Detainees Transferred from Gitmo
Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Republic of Senegal today “for offering humanitar...
Op-eds
Treasury Department: Charity run by Scottish-born jihadist an al Qaeda ‘front organization’
At first blush, Al Rahmah Welfare Organization (RWO) is a charity that serves orphans, widows and the downtrodden in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere. The group’s web page and soc...
Op-eds
Turkistan Islamic Party Emir Thought Killed in 2010 Reemerged to Lead Group in 2014
The emir of the Turkistan Islamic Party, who served on al Qaeda’s executive leadership council and who was thought to have been killed in a US drone strike in 2010, is believed to have re-e...
Op-eds
The Uruguay Six
On Sunday, December 7, a U.S. military medical aircraft landed in South America, to deliver six jihadists from the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay to Uruguay. For more than a dozen ye...
Op-eds
‘Core’ Al Qaeda Closes US Diplomatic Facilities
On Friday, the State Department announced that 21 diplomatic facilities (now updated to 22), from North Africa...
Op-eds
Global al Qaeda: Affiliates, Objectives, and Future Challenges
Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Sherman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the threat posed by al Qaeda. We have been asked to “examine the nature of...
Congressional Testimonies
See No Evil
During his speech at the National Defense University on May 23, President Obama sought to reassure Americans that they are “safer” because of the administration’s “efforts...
Op-eds
Turkistan Islamic Party Releases Video of Children in Training
The Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated terror group, has released a video that shows young children firing weapons while at a training camp in Pakistan. The video was releas...
Op-eds
Al Qaeda Lives
The real story behind Benghazi and the other attacks of 9/11/12