Publications

In 2009, efforts by al-Qaeda and the various global jihad splinter groups affiliated with it to carry out terrorist activities with familiar operational characteristics – showcase multi-casualty attacks and suicide bombings – continued unabated in locales around the world. This year most of the activity shifted away from the Iraqi arena, which in recent years was the focus for global jihadists, to the Afghanistan and Pakistan combat arena. In the Afghan-Pakistani arena, al-Qaeda and other jihadists operate alongside local Taliban operatives. At the same time, ties have grown closer between al-Qaeda Central and regional organizations on the various front lines, in particular in the Arabian Peninsula, the Maghreb, and East Africa. These ties help upgrade the activities of the local activists and place new emphasis on senior local government and foreign targets. Also this past year a number of terrorist cells and operatives were discovered in the United States; these elements demonstrated that al-Qaeda intends to persevere in its attempts to carry out terrorist acts on American sovereign territory through the use of American as well as foreign nationals.