Washington: Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States, al-Qaeda has been significantly weakened but has not disappeared from the global security landscape.
The attacks, carried out by 19 al-Qaeda operatives who hijacked four commercial aircraft, transformed international security and triggered the US-led “War on Terror.” The United States subsequently launched military operations in Afghanistan and expanded its global campaign against terrorist networks.
Over the past quarter-century, sustained counterterrorism operations have severely disrupted al-Qaeda’s leadership, financing and operational capabilities. Several of its senior leaders have been killed, while the organisation has struggled to reproduce the scale and coordination of the 9/11 attacks.
However, al-Qaeda’s decline has not meant the end of the threat. The organisation and groups aligned with its ideology have maintained networks and influence in parts of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Regional affiliates have increasingly operated with greater autonomy while continuing to promote extremist propaganda and recruit supporters.
The rise of other jihadist organisations, particularly ISIS, has also changed the militant landscape. Competition among extremist groups has fragmented the threat, making it less centred on a single global organisation than it was in the years immediately following 9/11.
Security agencies continue to monitor al-Qaeda-linked groups, online radicalisation and attempts to exploit political instability and conflict. Intelligence and counterterrorism officials have repeatedly warned that weakened organisations can still pose a serious threat when local instability provides them with opportunities to regroup.
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 therefore comes with a complex assessment: al-Qaeda today is far less capable than it was in 2001, but its ideology, affiliates and networks have survived.
For governments around the world, the challenge remains preventing a weakened but persistent terrorist movement from rebuilding the capabilities needed to carry out another major international attack.
