Eleven years after the U.S. killed al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden, a U.S. drone strike killed his successor — the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks — Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was in Kabul, Afghanistan. Under al-Zawahiri’s leadership, the core al-Qaida group was unable to conduct any successful attacks on the West. But he preserved the terrorist group’s strategic relationship with the Taliban and al-Qaida affiliates in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula grew in potency. In this episode of “The Latest,” USIP’s Asfandyar Mir discusses how al-Qaida evolved under al-Zawahiri, who could take the helm of the group, and what this means for U.S. counterterrorism policy.
The Latest on al-Qaida after al-Zawahiri: 3 Things You Need to Know
Related Publications
The Latest @ USIP: Religious Inclusion in Afghanistan
The Taliban often use religious arguments to justify their claim to authority. But the Taliban are just one aspect of Afghanistan, and the caretaker government has failed to justify many of its more draconian policies — especially those against women and girls. Charles Ramsey, a resident scholar at Baylor University's Institute for the Studies of Religion and a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute, discusses the role that other religious actors in Afghanistan can play in shaping the country’s future and how positively engaging with these religious leaders can contribute to building peace.
Wrestling with a Humanitarian Dilemma in Afghanistan
Recent decrees by the Taliban barring Afghan women from attending university or working in NGOs are severely damaging the country both socially and economically, especially coming atop a ban on girls’ secondary education last year. The marginalization of half the population also highlights the “humanitarian dilemma” that aid donors and international agencies face: Afghanistan is highly dependent on humanitarian assistance, not only for saving lives and easing deprivation but also to stabilize its economy. The quandary for international donors is what to do when alleviating suffering benefits the Afghan economy and thereby the Taliban regime, even when that regime is harming its own people?
Event Extra: Afghanistan’s Media Landscape Amid Taliban Rule
Ayesha Tanzeem, the director of Voice of America’s South and Central Asia Division, explains how Afghanistan’s media landscape has changed in the last year and a half, how media organizations are fighting back and what the international community can do to help protect media freedom in Afghanistan.
Can the Taliban’s Brazen Assault on Afghan Women Be Stopped?
The Taliban marked the New Year by doubling down on their severe, ever-growing restrictions on women’s rights. On December 20, they banned women from all universities — adding to their prior ban on girls attending middle and high school. Then the Taliban announced on December 24 that women cannot work for NGOs, including humanitarian organizations that are providing vital food and basic health services to the population that is now projected at 90 percent below the poverty rate. Western and regional governments have responded with uncommonly unified outrage and many humanitarian organizations have suspended their operations until women are allowed to return to their jobs.