Turmoil in Yemen Gives Al-Qaeda a Free Hand
WASHINGTON: After being engaged in two land wars in the Middle East against terrorists, the United States is now faced with a resilient al-Qaeda in Yemen.
The government and the already poor economy of Yemen are rapidly deteriorating, making Yemen a prime environment for al-Qaeda and affiliated groups to operate and thrive. To aggravate matters further, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in a nearly four-month standoff with protesters, preventing the transition to a new, more functional government.
The ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, Yemen is home to an al-Qaeda franchise—al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)—which is its most active and lethal, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
AQAP maintains safe havens in Yemen that provide the group the cover to plan, direct, and train for attacks. It has been operating since 1992, when it bombed a hotel in Aden where American troops were staying.
In 2000, it attacked the U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 Americans. In September 2008, the U.S. Embassy was attacked, 19 people were killed including 6 terrorists.
On Christmas Day 2009, AQAP attempted to bomb a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner. The suspect traveled to Yemen, joined an affiliate of AQAP, which trained and equipped him with an explosive.
A January 2010 report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, titled ominously “Al Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia: A Ticking Time Bomb,” described the plot as “a nearly catastrophic illustration of a significant new threat from a network previously regarded as a regional danger, rather than an international one.”
In October 2010, a plot was uncovered to send explosives in courier packages from Yemen to synagogues in Chicago.
The Defense Department is providing Yemen’s security forces with $150 million worth of training and equipment for fiscal year 2010. But it is the belief of most observers that the government is incapable of taking on AQAP alone.
As in Pakistan, U.S. Special Forces have been pursuing and killing a number of senior al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen. The U.S. military would like to catch Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, suspected of creating the most recent explosive packages, and Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical U.S.-born cleric who has called for the slaughter of Americans and has become a senior leader of AQAP. A May 5 drone strike targeting Awlaki was unsuccessful.
Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad said he was inspired by Awlaki, and accused Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan exchanged e-mails with Awlaki, according to ABC News, May 6.
Airstrikes have not been popular with the Yemenis when innocent civilians are killed. On May 4, 2010, an air raid targeting al-Qaeda killed five people, among them Jaber al-Shabwani, the province's deputy governor who was mediating between the government and the militants. Some Yemenis believe he was killed by a missile fired from a U.S. drone, but the Yemeni government accepted responsibility in order to ease the anger of Shabwani’s tribe, which subsequently attacked local oil pipelines, set up roadblocks, attacked government buildings, and clashed with the Yemeni army, according to the CRS.
WASHINGTON: After being engaged in two land wars in the Middle East against terrorists, the United States is now faced with a resilient al-Qaeda in Yemen.
The government and the already poor economy of Yemen are rapidly deteriorating, making Yemen a prime environment for al-Qaeda and affiliated groups to operate and thrive. To aggravate matters further, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in a nearly four-month standoff with protesters, preventing the transition to a new, more functional government.
The ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, Yemen is home to an al-Qaeda franchise—al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)—which is its most active and lethal, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
AQAP maintains safe havens in Yemen that provide the group the cover to plan, direct, and train for attacks. It has been operating since 1992, when it bombed a hotel in Aden where American troops were staying.
In 2000, it attacked the U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 Americans. In September 2008, the U.S. Embassy was attacked, 19 people were killed including 6 terrorists.
On Christmas Day 2009, AQAP attempted to bomb a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner. The suspect traveled to Yemen, joined an affiliate of AQAP, which trained and equipped him with an explosive.
A January 2010 report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, titled ominously “Al Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia: A Ticking Time Bomb,” described the plot as “a nearly catastrophic illustration of a significant new threat from a network previously regarded as a regional danger, rather than an international one.”
In October 2010, a plot was uncovered to send explosives in courier packages from Yemen to synagogues in Chicago.
The Defense Department is providing Yemen’s security forces with $150 million worth of training and equipment for fiscal year 2010. But it is the belief of most observers that the government is incapable of taking on AQAP alone.
As in Pakistan, U.S. Special Forces have been pursuing and killing a number of senior al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen. The U.S. military would like to catch Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, suspected of creating the most recent explosive packages, and Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical U.S.-born cleric who has called for the slaughter of Americans and has become a senior leader of AQAP. A May 5 drone strike targeting Awlaki was unsuccessful.
Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad said he was inspired by Awlaki, and accused Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan exchanged e-mails with Awlaki, according to ABC News, May 6.
Airstrikes have not been popular with the Yemenis when innocent civilians are killed. On May 4, 2010, an air raid targeting al-Qaeda killed five people, among them Jaber al-Shabwani, the province's deputy governor who was mediating between the government and the militants. Some Yemenis believe he was killed by a missile fired from a U.S. drone, but the Yemeni government accepted responsibility in order to ease the anger of Shabwani’s tribe, which subsequently attacked local oil pipelines, set up roadblocks, attacked government buildings, and clashed with the Yemeni army, according to the CRS.