On a Saturday in late October in Kabul, Afghanistan, a car carrying explosives rammed into an armored U.S. military bus, killing 13 Americans, including five soldiers and eight civilian staff. In August, a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans. Who was responsible? The Taliban. And who …
When al-Shabab withdrew its frontline forces from Mogadishu last August, the terrorist group vowed to launch a wave of asymmetric attacks against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the African Union’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). On Tuesday morning, an al-Shabab suicide bomber attacked the Ministry of Education, killing 70 and …
Earlier today, President Obama confirmed the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born Islamist radical and an important leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). As a high-value target, Awlaki is said to have elevated AQAP to one of the most dangerous wings of the organization. He was a key …
According to media reports, Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American Islamist radical who played an increasingly influential role in the al-Qaeda network, was killed in a CIA drone strike earlier today in Yemen. Awlaki was reported to have been killed at least twice before, and one of his brothers reportedly already has …
President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s return to Yemen on Friday after four months in Saudi Arabia has sparked renewed violence after protestors launched demonstrations against the government that were violently repressed. Since the beginning of the uprising last January, Yemen—an already volatile and poor country—has plunged deeper into chaos, dividing the …
Osama bin Laden was disposed of last April, but al-Qaeda’s intention to commit acts of terrorism against the U.S. and its allies is undeterred. In his testimony this week to the joint congressional intelligence hearing, CIA director David Petraeus warned, “Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, the United States continues …
While opinions about America’s post–9/11 policies come and go, facts remain: The U.S. has thwarted 40 terrorist plots through an aggressive and prioritized plan of offense to protect America. That is not a plan to abandon now, in an age of increasingly high-tech terrorism. As John Yoo, a former official …
