Formed by Islamic fundamentalist militaries, recruited in several countries, the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda (“the base”, in Arabic) was created by Osama bin Laden in 1989, a Saudi who was fighting the Soviet invasion of the territory of Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden was largely responsible for raising financial resources and recruiting people to fight the invasion. The Afghan resistance was supported by the United States, which provided weapons and training for the local military.
With the beginning of Gulf War (confrontation between Kuwait and Iraq) there was the intervention of the United States (supporting Kuwait) and the consequent presence of US soldiers in the Arabian peninsula, cradle of the prophet Mohammed and seat of the main sanctuaries of the Islam. Osama Bin Laden, despite opposing Iraq, did not accept the permanence of US soldiers in the region, and began a campaign against that country. This forceful stance prompted King Fahd to expel him from Saudi Arabia in 1991.
After five years in Sudan, where he commanded his first attacks on US military installations, Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan, and built training camps for al-Qaeda there, becoming a collaborator of the regime's Taliban.
bin Laden
Motivated by the idea that the United States pursued a policy of oppression of Muslims, Bin Laden intensified his terrorist campaign against Westerners, especially the United States. The great “milestone” of al-Qaeda's authorship was the attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington. Immediately, the US intervention in Afghanistan took place. However, on that occasion, bin Laden, “strangely” was not found, and the organization continued to operate underground.
Al-Qaeda has militants in several countries, its terrorist actions take place in Western nations and in Muslim countries that support the United States, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia. The organization selects targets of great symbolic significance. An example of this are the attacks in 2003 against the headquarters of the British bank HSBC and the UK consulate in the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
The fact is, the United States uses al-Qaeda to justify a series of military interventions in other countries, such as Afghanistan, when in fact, it is about strategies geopolitics. It was only nearly a decade after the invasion of Afghanistan that bin Laden was captured and killed by a specialized command of the States Navy. United in the city of Abbottabad, near Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, according to a statement by the current President of the United States, Barack Obama.
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However, when the US army set out to capture Saddam Hussein, the mission was quickly successful. Therefore, this historical relationship between the United States and al-Qaeda needs careful analysis and, not only, conceptions formed through biased media.
See more:
Osama bin Laden - The Muslim radical who shook the solidity of the American empire.
By Wagner de Cerqueira and Francisco
Graduated in Geography
Brazil School Team
Curiosities - geography - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FRANCISCO, Wagner de Cerqueira and. "Al-Qaeda"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/al-qaeda.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
