Al-Qaeda is a Sunni pan-Islamist militant organization led by Salafi jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic state known as the Caliphate. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs,but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries,including the 1998 United States embassy bombings and the 2001 September 11 attacks;it has been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council,the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),the European Union,and various countries around the world.
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born militant and founder of the pan-Islamic militant organization Al-Qaeda. The group is designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council,the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),the European Union,and various other countries. Under bin Laden,Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 11 September attacks in the United States and many other mass-casualty attacks worldwide.
The following lists events that happened during 2001 in Afghanistan.
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16,2011,until his death on July 31,2022.
Richard Alan Clarke is an American national security expert,novelist,and former government official. He served as the Counterterrorism Czar as the National Coordinator for Security,Infrastructure Protection,and Counter-Terrorism for the United States between 1998 and 2003.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah was a high-ranking Egyptian member of al-Qaeda. He has been described as al-Qaeda's most experienced operational planner and was said to be the second-in-command in the organization at the time of his death.
Osama bin Laden,the founder and former leader of al-Qaeda,went into hiding following the start of the War in Afghanistan in order to avoid capture by the United States and/or its allies for his role in the September 11,2001 attacks,and having been on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 1999. After evading capture at the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001,his whereabouts became unclear,and various rumours about his health,continued role in al-Qaeda,and location were circulated. Bin Laden also released several video and audio recordings during this time.
The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is the counterterrorism and counterintelligence platform administered by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service agency. The Rewards For Justice program is seeking information leading to the arrest,capture,and identification or location of any foreign person,including a foreign entity,who knowingly engaged or is engaging in foreign election interference,as well as information leading to the prevention,frustration,or favorable resolution of an act of foreign election interference. The Rewards for Justice Program has paid more than $250 million to 125 individuals for leading information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped bring to justice those involved in prior acts.
The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora,eastern Afghanistan,from November 30 –December 17,2001,during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden,the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.
Pakistan and the United States established relations on 15 August 1947,a day after the independence of Pakistan,when the United States became one of the first nations to recognize Pakistan.
On May 2,2011,Osama bin Laden,the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda,was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad,by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six. The operation,code-named Operation Neptune Spear,was carried out in a CIA-led operation,with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six,participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne),also known as the "Night Stalkers," and the CIA's Special Activities Division,which recruits heavily from former JSOC Special Mission Units. The operation's success ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden,who was accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Hamza bin Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden,better known as Hamza bin Laden,was a Saudi Arabian-born member of Al-Qaeda. He was a son of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,and,following his father's death in 2011 and the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City,he was described as an emerging leader of the Al-Qaeda organization.
Michael A. Sheehan was an American author and former government official and military officer. He was a Distinguished Chair at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point,New York and a terrorist analyst for NBC News.
Bruce O. Riedel is an American expert on U.S. security,South Asia,and counter-terrorism. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution,and a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He also serves as a senior adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group.
Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations. Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries,including its neighbours Afghanistan,India,and Iran,as well as by the United States,the United Kingdom,Germany,and France,of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities in both its local region of South Asia and beyond. Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border have been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense,while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups,as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de jure India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir and India proper,respectively. According to an analysis published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in 2008,Pakistan was reportedly,"with the possible exception of Iran,perhaps the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups... aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region;all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community." Daniel Byman,a professor and senior analyst of terrorism and security at the Center For Middle East Policy,also wrote that,"Pakistan is probably 2008's most active sponsor of terrorism". In 2018,the former Prime Minister of Pakistan,Nawaz Sharif,suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba,a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group. In July 2019,Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan,on an official visit to the United States,acknowledged the presence of some 30,000–40,000 armed terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. He further stated that previous administrations were hiding this truth,particularly from the United States,for the last 15 years during the War on Terror.
For purposes of U.S. foreign policy,South Asia consists of Afghanistan,Bangladesh,Bhutan,India,the Maldives,Nepal,Pakistan,and Sri Lanka. The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs was Nisha Desai Biswal.
Pakistan's role in the War on Terror is a widely discussed topic among policy-makers of various countries,political analysts and international delegates around the world. Pakistan has simultaneously received allegations of harbouring and aiding terrorists and commendation for its anti-terror efforts. Since 2001,the country has also hosted millions of Afghan refugees who fled the war in Afghanistan.
On May 2,2011,United States President Barack Obama confirmed that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in his compound in Abbottabad,northeastern Pakistan. Bin Laden's death was welcomed throughout most of the world as a fitting end to a figure who had inspired mass bloodshed,and a positive and significant turning point in the fight against al-Qaeda and related groups. Those who welcomed it included the United Nations,European Union,NATO,and some nations in Asia,Africa,Oceania,South America,and the Middle East,including Yemen,Lebanon,Saudi Arabia,India,Israel,Indonesia,Somalia,the Philippines,Turkey,Iraq,Australia,Argentina,and the rebel Libyan Republic.
Allegations of a support system in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden have been made both before and after Osama bin Laden was found living in a compound in Abbottabad,Pakistan and was killed by a team of United States Navy SEALs on 2 May 2011. The compound itself was located just half a mile from Pakistan's premier military training academy Kakul Military Academy (PMA) in Abbottabad. In the aftermath of bin Laden's death,US-President Barack Obama asked Pakistan to investigate the network that sustained bin Laden. "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan",Obama said in a 60 Minutes interview with CBS News. He also added that the United States was not sure "who or what that support network was." In addition to this,in an interview with Time magazine,CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that US-officials did not alert Pakistani counterparts to the raid because they feared the terrorist leader would be warned. However,the documents recovered from bin Laden's compound 'contained nothing to support the idea that bin Laden was protected or supported by the Pakistani officials'. Instead,the documents contained criticism of Pakistani military and future plans for attack against the Pakistani military installations.
Gary Brooks Faulkner is a former construction worker and landlord who was arrested in 2010 in Pakistan carrying a sword,pistol,night vision goggles,a map,and a Bible on his one-man hunt to capture Osama bin Laden,the founder and leader of Al-Qaeda. Faulkner claimed that he was on a mission from God to capture Bin Laden.
