The State Department revealed today that 'Abd al Rahman al Maghrebi, a senior al Qaeda leader who heads the group's propaganda arm and has served as its "general manager," is based in Iran. Maghrebi and four others based in Iran were designated as terrorists. Read more >
Afghan security forces continue to target Al Qaeda as the Taliban promises that it won't allow allow foreign fighters to attack the West, even though the Taliban claims Al Qaeda doesn't exist inside Afghanistan. Read more >
The effort to degrade and contain Shabaab without will be all the more difficult without a U.S. presence in the country. Read more >
Despite the repeated targeting, killing, and capturing of Al Qaeda leaders and operatives, the Taliban maintains that the terror group does not operate in Afghanistan. Read more >
In an interview with the Islamic State's Al-Naba newsletter, Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, attempts to paint al Qaeda's efforts in the region as rife with internal squabbles and disunity. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the decisions awaiting the incoming Biden administration with respect to the ongoing conflicts in several countries. They also discuss the State Department’s decision to delist al Qaeda’s Uighur affiliate. Powered by RedCircle Take a look around the globe today and you’ll see jihadists... Read more >
Mohammad Hanif was involved in the 2002 assassination attempt on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the suicide attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi that same year. He was killed in Farah province. But the Taliban somehow continues to maintain that Al Qaeda isn't in Afghanistan. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the demise of Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf, al Qaeda’s media chief. Afghan forces hunted him down in a Taliban-controlled village nearly eight months after the U.S. State Department trumpeted the Taliban’s supposed counterterrorism assurances. Read more >
The U.S. has confirmed that Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf, a senior al Qaeda leader, was killed in Ghazni province earlier this month. The head of the National Counterterrorism Center touts his death as a "major setback" for al Qaeda and one of its "strategic losses," but that is doubtful. Read more >
Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) claims that Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf, a senior al Qaeda leader, was killed in Ghazni province. FDD's Long War Journal has not confirmed his death and the NDS provided conflicting details throughout the day. Read more >
The U.S. government has designated Ahmed Luqman Talib as a terrorist, saying he uses his gemstone business to help move people and money for al Qaeda. Read more >
U.S. officials continue to maintain that the Taliban committed to a "reduction in violence" as part of the withdrawal agreement. The deal says no such thing, and the Taliban continues to mount attacks. Read more >
Edmund Fitton-Brown joins hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio to discuss his work for the United Nations Security Council. Read more >
Senior U.S. officials claim there are fewer than 200 al Qaeda members in Afghanistan. Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn explain why that estimate, like all others before it, isn’t credible. Read more >
The U.S. government, military, and intelligence services have provided inaccurate assessments of Al Qaeda's strength in Afghanistan for more than a decade. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued that tradition by recent regurgitating that Al Qaeda has fewer than 200 fighters in the country. This estimate, like previous ones, should not be trusted. Read more >
In this week's edition of the Islamic State's weekly Al-Naba newsletter, the jihadist group claims a series of wide-ranging operations across the Sahel. This includes last month's massacre of French aid workers in Niger, as well as a spate of battles with al Qaeda's men. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss al Qaeda’s weak media output on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 hijackings. Read more >
Al Qaeda has released a video message featuring Ayman al Zawahiri, who criticizes Al Jazeera at length. Although the video was released on the anniversary of the 9/11 hijackings, it was likely timed to coincide with the normalization of relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the prevalence of conspiracy theories in the post-9/11 era. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss how the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive policies in the Xinjiang region could drive more people into the jihadists’ arms. Read more >
The Taliban continues to use the signature terror tactic of Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups despite signing a deal with the U.S. that facilitates the withdrawal of American troops from the country. Read more >
Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn discuss what al Qaeda looks like in 2020. Read more >
This time, the Taliban denied a Department of Defense report that Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent cooperates with the Taliban by claiming AQIS isn't inside the country. Read more >
Pakistan remains a "safe haven" for a host of regional terror groups, including the Afghan Taliban and its integral subgroup, the Al Qaeda linked Haqqani Network, according the the State Department's newly released Country Reports on Terrorism 2019. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio explore how President Trump’s rhetoric on Afghanistan and other post-9/11 conflicts changed from 2017 to 2020. Read more >
AQIM has released an audio message confirming the death of its longtime emir, Abdulmalek Droukdel. Read more >
The Taliban's denial of Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan means that one of the two groups are not telling the truth. Either Al Qaeda has crafted an elaborate scheme to pretend it fights in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban, or the Taliban is lying, and Al Qaeda has fought there for decades and remains to this day. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the life and reported death of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s emir, Abdulmalek Droukdel. Read more >
While JNIM has not claimed the assault, its Katibat Macina is widely suspected of perpetrating the attack. This comes after sustained operations against it in the area last month. Read more >
The Taliban's statement should raise deep concerns with U.S. officials about the group's reliability to be an effective counterterrorism partner against Al Qaeda and other terror groups. Read more >
French and American officials say the emir of AQIM, Abdelmalek Droukdel (a.k.a. Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud), was killed in a counterterrorism operation in northern Mali on June 3. The U.S. military supported the French-led operation. Read more >
Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn on the latest diatribe released by Abu Hamza al-Qurashi, the Islamic State’s spokesman, who portrays the coronavirus as an act of divine retribution against the West and accuses the Taliban of working with the “Crusaders.” Read more >
According to a new report by a UN monitoring team, the Taliban "regularly consulted with Al Qaeda during negotiations with the United States and offered guarantees that it would honor their historical ties." The analysis contains numerous allegations of ongoing collusion between the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Read more >
Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn discuss the FBI's breakthrough in the investigation into the Dec. 6, 2019 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Read more >
Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn discuss the “endless wars” narrative, explaining why it is more accurate to call the conflicts unleashed by 9/11 an “endless jihad.” Read more >
The FBI and DOJ announced today that Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani had "significant ties" to AQAP and had been planning a terrorist attack for years. Alshamrani carried out the Dec. 6, 2019 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, killing three U.S. sailors and wounding eight other Americans. Read more >
Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn discuss the history of America’s drone campaign against al-Qaeda and ISIS. Read more >
In the latest edition of its Al-Naba newsletter, the Islamic State claims that Al Qaeda started a war against the so-called caliphate's men in West Africa. Independent reporting shows the two sides have clashed in recent weeks. Read more >
In late April, the Islamic State's Yemen "province" released a video attacking al-Qaeda's ideological credentials. The video is the latest piece of propaganda in the Islamic State's campaign against its jihadist rival. Read more >
As the U.S. is relying on the Taliban to keep Afghanistan from being a haven for terrorists in the wake of an agreement between the two parties, the Taliban lauds Mullah Omar's defense of Osama bin Laden after Al Qaeda's attack on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. Read more >
Houthis report to have captured an al Qaeda base in one of its historical strongholds in the country. No independent verification of this event, however, has yet been reported. Read more >
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan highlights the often overlooked relationship between the Afghan Taliban, its Pakistani brothers, and al Qaeda, and Pakistan’s complicity in propping up terror networks. Read more >
Thabat, an al-Qaeda-affiliated media outfit, has released a series of infographics that are intended to highlight the group's global reach and resiliency. The images trumpet a large number of purported attacks in Afghanistan, as well as America's withdrawal from the country. Read more >
The Taliban again highlighted the Red Unit, the group's special operations unit that spearheads its assaults throughout Afghanistan. Read more >
AFRICOM has stepped up its air campaign against Shabaab since the beginning of the year, targeting the group 33 times. Read more >
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the rise of ISIS and how the idea of building a caliphate in Iraq evolved over time. Bill witnessed the jihadists' earliest state-building efforts during multiple embeds in Iraq. Read more >
As U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls for the Taliban to honor a non-existent commitment to "reduce violence," the Taliban continues to train for war. Read more >
On March 19, Turkey’s defense ministry announced the death of two Turkish soldiers at the hands of “radical elements” in northwest Syria’s Idlib. The attack highlights Ankara's challenges in the Syrian province. Read more >
Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn profile Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) new emir, Khalid Batarfi. Read more >
The Taliban has taken credit for 17 attacks per day against Afghan security forces. Despite promises from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the Taliban would "destroy" Al Qaeda, the Taliban has not lifted a finger against the group. Read more >
