SUMMARY
Al-Qaida was formed in 1988 at the end of the conflict in Afghanistan, which young Muslims from around the world joined as volunteers. Among them were the Saudi Usama bin Laden and the Palestinian-Jordanian ideologue Abdullah Azzam. Together, Azzam and bin Laden set up MAK (Maktab al Khidmat lil Mujahidin al-Arab, Afghan Service Bureau), an organisation formed to raise and channel funds for the mujahedeen and recruited foreign fighters for the conflict.
When the Soviet Union started withdrawing from Afghanistan and, thus the mission of the “Arab Afghans”- the Arab fighters in the Afghanistan conflict - appeared to be accomplished soon, Azzam conceptualised al-Qaida (The Base). He envisaged a new organisation to channel and organise the struggle on behalf of oppressed Muslims worldwide. On 18 August 1988 in Peshawar, Azzam and bin Laden together with a circle of other Arab Afghans formally set up al-Qaida. Usama bin Laden was elected leader of the newly created organisation.
Usama bin Laden further specified the goals of al-Qaida. The group’s main aim was to expel western ideas from the Middle East. Although statements from Usama bin Laden were very general, they changed from calling for a struggle against the US presence in Saudi Arabia fighting the US involvement in the Islamic world. To achieve this aim, he encouraged Muslims all over the world to fight what they perceive as attacks on Muslims and in particular to attack US citizens and targets.
Al-Qaida has remained a predominantly Sunni group. However, with its broad based ideology the group has been appealing to persons from all strata of society including from other communities within Islam.
Al-Qaida was believed to have received financial support from Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran. However, analysts say that the group has mainly relied on non-state organisation for funding. From the early 1990s onwards, Usama bin Laden invited representatives of Islamic militant groups to join the consultative council of al-Qaida. One of them, Ayman Al Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, merged his organisation with al-Qaida in 1998 and became a senior leader within al-Qaida.
Usama bin Laden was the principal driving force of Al-Qaida after the death of the group’s “ideological father” Abdullah Azzam in 1989. He changed the group’s main base of operations - mainly due to government pressures - from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia to Sudan and then back to Afghanistan. The organisation came to consist of a small inner core of about 30 persons with about 3000 personnel directly linked to them. It has functioned as a network with many autonomous associated groups and sympathisers. These have included groups fighting in predominantly Muslim countries with allegedly apostate governments such as Algeria and post-2002 Afghanistan. Due to the efforts of the USA and allied countries in the “War on Terror” the network was further decentralised and its ideas spread. It thus became more difficult to ascribe direct responsibility for attacks to the al-Qaida leadership.
Usama bin Laden was killed by an American raid on a fortified building in Abbottabad, Pakistan on 1 May 2011. Bin Laden's close affiliate Ayman al-Zawahiri resumed power of al-Qaida. Al-Zawahiri remained the group's leader until 31 July 2022 when he was killed by an American drone strike on his house in Kabul, Afghanistan. Although al-Qaida did not officially announce a new leader, Saif al-Adel was believed to be the de facto leader after Zawahiri's death.
It should be noted that until 11 September 2001 Usama bin Laden had not referred to the group as al-Qaida, nor had other members of the movement used this term.
Al-Qaida has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
