Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

==Mid-1990s: Growth and Global Reach==
By the mid-1990s, al Qaeda expanded its operations, targeting U.S. interests globally while still receiving support from the CIA. Ghost Wars describes bin Laden’s 1996 return to Afghanistan, where al Qaeda established extensive training camps which mirror the terrorist training camps set up by Otto Skorzeny for Operation Gladio cells in NATO countries. Coll writes, “By 1996, al Qaeda had become a sophisticated terrorist organization with global ambitions” (Coll, 2004, p. 323) just like the Operation Gladio terrorists. That year, bin Laden issued his first public fatwa, declaring war on the United States. While this was going on

Prelude to Terror by Joseph J. Trento (2005) examines the CIA’s failure to prioritize al Qaeda as a threat, despite warnings from analysts. Trento notes, “The CIA underestimated bin Laden’s capabilities, focusing instead on state sponsors like Iran” (Trento, 2005, p. 189). This allowed al Qaeda to plan major attacks, including the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. This mirrors the Stratey of Tension concept to create the new global threat after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Black Flags by Joby Warrick (2015) details these bombings, which killed over 200 people and marked al Qaeda’s emergence as a global terrorist threat. Warrick writes, “The 1998 embassy bombings showcased al Qaeda’s ability to coordinate complex, multinational operations” (Warrick, 2015, p. 134). The U.S. responded with cruise missile strikes on al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, which were largely ineffective.