📪 Fed’s Shocking New Plan to Control Your Money ❗

To protect your savings, take these four steps by May 2023.   [New Trading View Logo]( [New Trading View Logo]( Dear Subscriber, Docket No. OP – 1670 was 𝗇𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 meant for the general public. [Document]( But buried on page 84 of this obscure government document … 𝖧𝖾𝗋𝖾 is a disturbing look into a 𝗇𝖾𝗐, shocking plan the Federal Reserve is getting ready to roll out as 𝗌𝗈𝗈𝗇 as May. For the first time in the history of 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾, they will have the power to track and even control our 𝗆𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒 in ways that send shivers up my spine. This is a lot more than printing trillions of 𝖽𝗈𝗅𝗅𝖺𝗋𝗌 or manipulating interest 𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾𝗌. It’s about every checking account, every 𝗉𝗎𝗋𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗌𝖾 and every 𝗆𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒 transfer in America — including yours and mine. My 𝗇𝖾𝗐 video explains it 𝖺𝗅𝗅. [𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆.]( Good luck and God bless! [Signature] Martin D. Weiss, PhD Weiss Ratings Founder P.S. This has nothing to do with a maybe-someday digital currency. It is a done 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗅 and ready to roll out in May. [𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.]( 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑢𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓. 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.   𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝖼𝖾𝗂𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝗐𝗌𝗅𝖾𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗈𝗉𝗍𝖾𝖽-𝗂𝗇 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗂𝗍 𝗈𝗇 𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝖾𝖻𝗌𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗌. 11780 US Highway 1 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33408-3080 Would you like to [edit your e-mail notification preferences or unsubscribe]( from our mailing list? Copyright © 2023 Weiss Ratings. All rights reserved. Make sure you stay up to date with finance news by [whitelisting us](. [Privacy Policy]( l [Terms & Conditions]( Thinking about unsubscribing? We hope not! But, if you must, the link is below. [Unsubscribe]( Copyright © 2023 New Trading View.com All Rights Reserved[.]( 234 5th Ave, New York, NY 10001, United States Fatwas In 1996, Al-Qaeda announced its jihad to expel foreign troops and interests from what they considered Islamic lands. Bin Laden issued a fatwa,[229] which amounted to a public declaration of war against the US and its allies, and began to refocus Al-Qaeda's resources on large-scale, propagandist strikes. On February 23, 1998, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, along with three other Islamist leaders, co-signed and issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill Americans and their allies.[230] Under the banner of the World Islamic Front for Combat Against the Jews and Crusaders, they declared: [T]he ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the holy mosque [in Mecca] from their grip, and in for their armies to move out of the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans together as they fight you together [and] fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah.'[21] Neither bin Laden nor al-Zawahiri possessed the traditional Islamic scholarly qualifications to issue a fatwa. However, they rejected the authority of the contemporary ulema (which they saw as the paid servants of jahiliyya rulers), and took it upon themselves.[231][unreliable source?] Philippines Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist Ramzi Yousef operated in the Philippines in the mid-1990s and trained Abu Sayyaf soldiers.[232] The 2002 edition of the United States Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism mention links of Abu Sayyaf to Al-Qaeda.[233] Abu Sayyaf is known for a series of kidnappings from tourists in both the Philippines and Malaysia that netted them large sums of through ransoms. The leader of Abu Sayyaf, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, was also a veteran fighting in the Soviet-Afghan War.[234] In 2014, Abu Sayyaf pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.[235] Iraq Main article: Al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda has launched attacks against the Iraqi Shia majority in an attempt to incite sectarian violence.[236] Al-Zarqawi purportedly declared an-out war on Shiites[237] while claiming responsibility for Shiite mosque bombings.[238] The same month, a statement claiming to be from Al-Qaeda in Iraq was rejected as a "fake".[239] In a December 2007 video, al-Zawahiri defended the Islamic State in Iraq, but distanced himself from the attacks against civilians, which he deemed to be perpetrated by "hypocrites and traitors existing among the ranks".[240] US and Iraqi officials accused Al-Qaeda in Iraq of trying to slide Iraq into a full-scale civil war between Iraq's Shiite population and Sunni Arabs. This was done through an orchestrated campaign of civilian massacres and a number of provocative attacks against high-profile religious targets.[241] With attacks including the 2003 Imam Ali Mosque bombing, the 2004 Day of Ashura and Karbala and Najaf bombings, the 2006 first al-Askari Mosque bombing in Samarra, the deadly single-day series of bombings in which at least 215 people were killed in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City, and the second al-Askari bombing in 2007, Al-Qaeda in Iraq provoked Shiite militias to unleash a wave of retaliatory attacks, resulting in death squad-style killings and further sectarian violence which escalated in 2006.[242] In 2008, sectarian bombings blamed on Al-Qaeda in Iraq killed at least 42 people at the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala in March, and at least 51 people at a bus in Baghdad in June. In February 2014, after a prolonged dispute with Al-Qaeda in Iraq's successor organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Al-Qaeda publicly announced it was cutting ties with the group, reportedly for its brutality and "notorious intractability".[243] Somalia and Yemen Main articles: Al-Shabaab (militant group) and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Current (December 2021) military situation in Somalia: Controlled by Al-Shabaab Current (November 2021) military situation in Yemen: Controlled by al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia In Somalia, Al-Qaeda agents had been collaborating closely with its Somali wing, which was created from the al-Shabaab group. In February 2012, al-Shabaab officially joined Al-Qaeda, declaring loyalty in a video.[244] Somali Al-Qaeda recruited children for suicide-bomber training and recruited young people to participate in militant actions against Americans.[245] The percentage of attacks in the First World originating from the Afghanistan–Pakistan (AfPak) border declined starting in 2007, as Al-Qaeda shifted to Somalia and Yemen.[246] While Al-Qaeda leaders were hiding in the tribal areas along the AfPak border, middle-tier leaders heightened activity in Somalia and Yemen. In January 2009, Al-Qaeda's division in Saudi Arabia merged with its Yemeni wing to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).[247] Centered in Yemen, the group takes advantage of the country's poor economy, demography and domestic security. In August 2009, the group made an assassination attempt against a of the Saudi royal family. President Obama asked Ali Abdullah Saleh to ensure closer cooperation with the US in the struggle against the growing activity of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and promised to send additional aid. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drew US attention from Somalia and Yemen.[248] In December 2011, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the US operations against Al-Qaeda "are concentrating on key groups in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa."[249] Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the 2009 bombing attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.[250] The AQAP declared the Al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen on March 31, 2011, after capturing the most of the Abyan Governorate.[251] As the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen escalated in July 2015, fifty civilians had been killed and twenty needed aid.[252] In February 2016, Al-Qaeda forces and Saudi Arabian-led coalition forces were both seen fighting Houthi rebels in the same battle.[253] In August 2018, Al Jazeera reported that "A military coalition battling Houthi rebels secured secret deals with Al-Qaeda in Yemen and recruited hundreds of the group's fighters. ... Key figures in the-making said the United States was aware of the arrangements and held on drone attacks against the armed group, which was created by Osama bin Laden in 1988."[254] United States operations In December 1998, the Director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center reported to President Bill Clinton that Al-Qaeda was preparing to launch attacks in the United States, and the group was training personnel to hijack aircraft.[255] On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacked the United States, hijacking four airliners within the country and deliberately crashing two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in York City. The third plane crashed into the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane was crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.[256] In total, the attackers killed 2,977 victims and injured more than 6,000 others.[257] Anwar al-Awlaki US officials noted that Anwar al-Awlaki had considerable reach within the US. A former FBI agent identified Awlaki as a known "senior recruiter for Al-Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.[258] Awlaki's sermons in the US were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, and accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. US intelligence intercepted emails from Hasan to Awlaki between December 2008 and early 2009. On his website, Awlaki has praised Hasan's actions in the Fort Hood shooting.[259] An unnamed official claimed there was good reason to believe Awlaki "has been involved in very terrorist activities since leaving the US [in 2002], including plotting attacks against America and our allies."[260] US President Barack Obama approved the targeted killing of al-Awlaki by April 2010, making al-Awlaki the first US citizen ever placed on the CIA target list. That required the consent of the US National Security Council, and officials argued that the attack was appropriate because the individual posed an imminent danger to national security.[261][262][263] In May 2010, Faisal Shahzad, who pleaded guilty to the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt, told interrogators he was "inspired by" al-Awlaki, and sources said Shahzad had made contact with al-Awlaki over the Internet.[264][265][266] Representative Jane Harman called him "terrorist", and Investor's Business Daily called him "the world's most dangerous man".[267][268] In July 2010, the US Treasury Department added him to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and the UN added him to its list of individuals associated with Al-Qaeda.[269] In August 2010, al-Awlaki's father initiated a lawsuit against the US government with the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging its to kill al-Awlaki.[270] In October 2010, US and UK officials linked al-Awlaki to the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.[271] In September 2011, al-Awlaki was killed in a targeted killing drone attack in Yemen.[272] On March 16, 2012, it was reported that Osama bin Laden plotted to kill US President Barack Obama.[273] Killing of Osama bin Laden Main article: Killing of Osama bin Laden View of Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed on May 1, 2011 On May 1, 2011, US President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed by "a small team of Americans" acting under direct orders, in a covert operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan.[274][275] The took place 50 km (31 mi) north of Islamabad.[276] According to US officials, a team of 20–25 US Navy SEALs under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command stormed bin Laden's compound with two helicopters. Bin Laden and those with him were killed during a firefight in which US forces experienced no casualties.[277] According to one US official the attack was carried out without the knowledge or consent of the Pakistani authorities.[278] In Pakistan some people were reported to be shocked at the unauthorized incursion by US armed forces.[279] The site is a few miles from the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul.[280] In his broadcast announcement President Obama said that US forces "took care to civilian casualties".[281] Details emerged that three men and a woman were killed along with bin Laden, the woman being killed when she was "used as a shield by a male combatant".[278] DNA from bin Laden's body, compared with DNA samples on record from his dead sister,[282] confirmed bin Laden's identity.[283] The body was recovered by the US military and was in its custody[275] until, according to one US official, his body was buried at sea according to Islamic traditions.[276][284] One US official said that "finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult."[285] US State Department issued a "Worldwide caution" for Americans following bin Laden's death and US diplomatic facilities everywhere were placed on high alert, a senior US official said.[286] Crowds gathered outside the White House and in York City's Times Square to celebrate bin Laden's death.[287] Syria Main article: Syrian civil war See also: Al-Nusra Front, Tahrir al-Sham, and Islamic State This section needs to be updated. help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2020) Military situation in the Syrian Civil War as of April 9, 2019: Controlled by al-Nusra Front The scene of the October 2012 Aleppo bombings, for which al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility[288] In 2003, President Bashar al-Assad revealed in an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper that he doubted Al-Qaeda even existed. He was quoted as saying, "Is there really an entity called Al-Qaeda? Was it in Afghanistan? Does it exist?" He went on further to remark about bin Laden, commenting "[he] cannot talk on the or use the Internet, but he can direct communications to the four corners of the world? This is illogical."[289] Following the mass protests that took place in 2011, which demanded the resignation of al-Assad, Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups and Sunni sympathizers began to constitute an effective fighting force against al-Assad.[290] Before the Syrian Civil War, Al-Qaeda's presence in Syria was negligible, but its growth thereafter was rapid.[291] Groups such as the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have recruited many foreign Mujahideen to train and fight in what has gradually become a highly sectarian war.[292][293] Ideologically, the Syrian Civil War has served the interests of Al-Qaeda as it pits a mainly Sunni opposition against a secular government. Al-Qaeda and other fundamentalist Sunni militant groups have invested heavily in the civil conflict, at times actively backing and supporting the mainstream Syrian Opposition.[294][295] On February 2, 2014, Al-Qaeda distanced itself from ISIS and its actions in Syria;[296] however, during 2014–15, ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front[297] were still able to occasionally cooperate in their fight against the Syrian government.[298][299][300] Al-Nusra (backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey as part of the Army of Conquest during 2015–2017[301]) launched many attacks and bombings, mostly against targets affiliated with or supportive of the Syrian government.[302] From October 2015, Russian air strikes targeted positions held by al-Nusra Front, as well as other Islamist and non-Islamist rebels,[303][304][305] while the US also targeted al-Nusra with airstrikes.[305][306][307] In early 2016, a leading ISIL ideologue described Al-Qaeda as the "Jews of jihad".[308] India Main article: al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent In September 2014, al-Zawahiri announced Al-Qaeda was establishing a front in India to "wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land, to restore its sovereignty, and to revive its Caliphate." Al-Zawahiri nominated India as a beachhead for regional jihad taking in neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Bangladesh. The motivation for the video was questioned, as it appeared the militant group was struggling to remain relevant in light of the emerging prominence of ISIS.[309] The wing was to be known as "Qaedat al-Jihad fi'shibhi al-qarrat al-Hindiya" or al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Leaders of several Indian Muslim organizations rejected al-Zawahiri's pronouncement, saying they could see no good coming from it, and viewed it as a threat to Muslim youth in the country.[310] In 2014, Zee News reported that Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and National Security Council official for South Asia, had accused the Pakistani military intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of organising and assisting Al-Qaeda to organise in India, that Pakistan ought to be warned that it will be placed on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, and that "Zawahiri made the tape in his hideout in Pakistan, no doubt, and many Indians suspect the ISI is helping to protect him."[311][312][313] In September 2021, after the of 2021 Taliban offensive, Al-Qaeda congratulated Taliban and called for liberation of Kashmir from the "clutches of the enemies of Islam".[314] Attacks For a chronological guide, see Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks. Nairobi, Kenya: August 7, 1998 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: August 7, 1998 Aden, Yemen: October 12, 2000 World Trade Center, US: September 11, 2001 The Pentagon, US: September 11, 2001 Istanbul, Turkey: November 15 and 20, 2003 Al-Qaeda has carried out a total of six major attacks, four of them in its jihad against America. In each case the leadership planned the attack years in advance, arranging for the shipment of weapons and explosives and using its businesses to provide operatives with safehouses and false identities.[315] 1991 To prevent the former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah from coming back from exile and possibly becoming head of a government, bin Laden instructed a Portuguese convert to Islam, Paulo Jose de Almeida Santos, to assassinate Zahir Shah. On November 4, 1991, Santos entered the king's villa in Rome posing as a journalist and tried to stab him with a dagger. A tin of cigarillos in the king's breast pocket deflected the blade and saved Zahir Shah's. Santos was apprehended and jailed for 10 years in Italy.[316] 1992 On December 29, 1992, Al-Qaeda launched the 1992 Yemen hotel bombings. Two bombs were detonated in Aden, Yemen. The first target was the Movenpick Hotel and the second was the parking lot of the Goldmohur Hotel.[317] The bombings were an attempt to eliminate American soldiers on their way to Somalia to take part in the international famine relief effort, Operation Restore Hope. Internally, Al-Qaeda considered the bombing a victory that frightened the Americans away, but in the US, the attack was barely noticed. No American soldiers were killed because no soldiers were staying in the hotel which was bombed. However, an Australian tourist and a Yemeni hotel worker were killed in the bombing. Seven others, mostly Yemenis, were severely injured.[317] Two fatwas are said to have been appointed by Al-Qaeda's members, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, to justify the killings according to Islamic law. Salim referred to a famous fatwa appointed by Ibn Taymiyyah, a 13th-century scholar much admired by Wahhabis, which sanctioned resistance by any means during the Mongol invasions.[318][unreliable source?] Late 1990s 1998 Nairobi embassy bombing Main articles: 1998 United States embassy bombings, 2000 millennium attack plots, and USS Cole bombing In 1996, bin Laden personally engineered a plot to assassinate United States President Bill Clinton while the president was in Manila for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. However, intelligence agents intercepted a message before the motorcade was to, and alerted the US Secret Service. Agents later discovered a bomb planted under a bridge.[319] On August 7, 1998, Al-Qaeda bombed the US embassies in East Africa, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans. In retaliation, a barrage of cruise missiles launched by the US military devastated an Al-Qaeda base in Khost, Afghanistan. The network's capacity was unharmed. In late 1999 and 2000, Al-Qaeda planned attacks to coincide with the millennium, masterminded by Abu Zubaydah and involving Abu Qatada, which would include the bombing of Christian holy sites in Jordan, the bombing of Los Angeles International Airport by Ahmed Ressam, and the bombing of the USS The Sullivans (DDG-68). On October 12, 2000, Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen bombed the missile destroyer USS Cole in a suicide attack, killing 17 US servicemen and damaging the vessel while it lay. Inspired by the of such a brazen attack, Al-Qaeda's command core began to prepare for an attack on the US itself. September 11 attacks Main article: September 11 attacks See also: Responsibility for the September 11 attacks Aftermath of the September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks on America by Al-Qaeda killed 2,996 people – 2,507 civilians, 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel as well as 19 hijackers who committed murder-suicide. Two commercial airliners were deliberately flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon, and a fourth, originally intended to target either the United States Capitol or the White House, crashed in a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It was the deadliest foreign attack on American soil since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and to this day remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The attacks were conducted by Al-Qaeda, acting in accord with the 1998 fatwa issued against the US and its allies by persons under the command of bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, and others.[26] Evidence points to suicide squads led by Al-Qaeda military commander Mohamed Atta as the culprits of the attacks, with bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Hambali as the key planners and part of the political and military command. Messages issued by bin Laden after September 11, 2001, praised the attacks, and explained their motivation while denying any involvement.[320] Bin Laden legitimized the attacks by identifying grievances felt by both mainstream and Islamist Muslims, such as the general perception that the US was actively oppressing Muslims.[321] Bin Laden asserted that America was massacring Muslims in "Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir and Iraq" and Muslims should retain the "right to attack in reprisal". He also claimed the 9/11 attacks were not targeted at people, but "America's icons of military and economic power", despite the fact he planned to attack in the morning when most of the people in the intended targets were present and thus generating the maximum number of casualties.[322] Evidence later came to light that the original targets for the attack may have been nuclear power stations on the US East Coast. The targets were later altered by Al-Qaeda, as it was feared that such an attack "might out of hand".[323][324] Designation as a terrorist group Al-Qaeda is deemed a designated terrorist group by the following countries and international organizations: Australia[325] Azerbaijan[326] Bahrain[327] Belarus[328] Brazil[329] Canada[330] China[55][331] European Union[332] France[333] India[334] Indonesia[335] Iran[336] Ireland[337] Israel[338][339] Japan[340] Kazakhstan[341] Kyrgyzstan[342] NATO[343][344] Malaysia[345] Netherlands[346] Zealand[347] Pakistan[348] Philippines[349] Russian Federation[350] Saudi Arabia[351] South Korea[352] Sweden[353] Switzerland[354] Tajikistan[355] Turkey designated Al-Qaeda's Turkish branch[356] United Arab Emirates[357] United Kingdom[358] United Nations Security Council[359] United States[360] Uzbekistan[361][362] Vietnam[363] War on terror Main articles: War on terror and List of wars and battles involving al-Qaeda US troops in Afghanistan In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the US government responded, and began to prepare its armed forces to overthrow the Taliban, which it believed was harboring Al-Qaeda. The US offered Taliban leader Mullah Omar a to surrender bin Laden and his top associates. The first forces to be inserted into Afghanistan were paramilitary officers from the CIA's elite Special Activities Division (SAD). The Taliban offered to turn over bin Laden to a neutral country for if the US would provide evidence of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks. US President George W. Bush responded by saying: "We know he's guilty. Turn him over",[364] and British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned the Taliban regime: "Surrender bin Laden, or surrender power."[365] thereafter the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan, and together with the Afghan Northern Alliance removed the Taliban government as part of the war in Afghanistan. As a result of the US special forces and air support for the Northern Alliance ground forces, a number of Taliban and Al-Qaeda training camps were destroyed, and much of the operating structure of Al-Qaeda is believed to have been disrupted. After being driven from their key positions in the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan, many Al-Qaeda fighters tried to regroup in the rugged Gardez region of the nation. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after his arrest in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March 2003 By early 2002, Al-Qaeda had been dealt a blow to its operational capacity, and the Afghan invasion appeared to be a. Nevertheless, a significant Taliban insurgency remained in Afghanistan. Debate continued the nature of Al-Qaeda's role in the 9/11 attacks. The US State Department released a videotape showing bin Laden speaking with a small group of associates somewhere in Afghanistan shortly before the Taliban was removed from power.[366] Although its authenticity has been questioned by a couple of people,[367] the tape definitively implicates bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the September 11 attacks. The tape was aired on many television channels, with an accompanying English translation provided by the US Defense Department.[368] In September 2004, the 9/11 Commission officially concluded that the attacks were conceived and implemented by Al-Qaeda operatives.[369] In October 2004, bin Laden appeared to claim responsibility for the attacks in a videotape released through Al Jazeera, saying he was inspired by Israeli attacks on high-rises in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon: "As I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children."[370] By the end of 2004, the US government proclaimed that two-thirds of the most senior Al-Qaeda figures from 2001 had been captured and interrogated by the CIA: Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002;[371] Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in 2003;[372] and Saif al Islam el Masry in 2004.[373] Mohammed Atef and several others were killed. The West was criticized for not being able to handle Al-Qaida despite a decade of the war.[374] Activities Main countries of activity of Al-Qaeda Africa Main article: Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (formerly GSPC) area of operations Front page of The Guardian Weekly on the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The article claimed that Al-Qaeda's activity is "increasingly dispersed to 'affiliates' or 'franchises' in Yemen and North Africa."[375] Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa has included a number of bombing attacks in North Africa, while supporting parties in civil wars in Eritrea and Somalia. From 1991 to 1996, bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders were based in Sudan. Islamist rebels in the Sahara calling themselves Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have stepped up their violence in recent years.[376][377][378] French officials say the rebels have no real links to the Al-Qaeda leadership, but this has been disputed. It seems likely that bin Laden approved the group's in late 2006, and the rebels "took on the al Qaeda franchise label", almost a year before the violence began to escalate.[379] In Mali, the Ansar Dine faction was also reported as an ally of Al-Qaeda in 2013.[380] The Ansar al Dine faction aligned themselves with the AQIM.[381] In 2011, Al-Qaeda's North African wing condemned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and declared support for the Anti-Gaddafi rebels.[382][383] Following the Libyan Civil War, the of Gaddafi and the ensuing period of post-civil war violence in Libya, various Islamist militant groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda were able to expand their operations in the region.[384] The 2012 Benghazi attack, which resulted in the death of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, is suspected of having been carried out by various Jihadist networks, such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar al-Sharia and several other Al-Qaeda affiliated groups.[385][386] The capture of Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, a senior Al-Qaeda operative wanted by the United States for his involvement in the 1998 United States embassy bombings, on October 5, 2013, by US Navy Seals, FBI and CIA agents illustrates the importance the US and other Western allies have placed on North Africa.[387] Europe Main article: Al-Qaeda activities in Europe Prior to the September 11 attacks, Al-Qaeda was present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its members were mostly veterans of the El Mudžahid detachment of the Bosnian Muslim Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Three Al-Qaeda operatives carried out the Mostar car bombing in 1997. The operatives were closely linked to and financed by the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina founded by then-prince King Salman of Saudi Arabia.[citation needed] Before the 9/11 attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan, westerners who had been recruits at Al-Qaeda training camps were sought after by Al-Qaeda's military wing. Language skills and knowledge of Western culture were generally found among recruits from Europe, such was the case with Mohamed Atta, an Egyptian national studying in Germany at the time of his training, and other members of the Hamburg Cell. Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Atef would later designate Atta as the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers. Following the attacks, Western intelligence agencies determined that Al-Qaeda cells operating in Europe had aided the hijackers with financing and communications with the central leadership based in Afghanistan.[136][388] In 2003, Islamists carried out a series of bombings in Istanbul killing fifty-seven people and injuring seven hundred. Seventy-four people were charged by the Turkish authorities. Some had previously met bin Laden, and though they specifically declined to pledge allegiance to Al-Qaeda they asked for its blessing and help.[389][390] In 2009, three Londoners, Tanvir Hussain, Assad Sarwar and Ahmed Abdullah Ali, were convicted of conspiring to detonate bombs disguised as soft drinks on seven airplanes bound for Canada and the US The MI5 investigation the plot involved more than a year of surveillance work conducted by over two hundred officers.[391][392][393] British and US officials said the plot – unlike many similar homegrown European Islamic militant plots – was directly linked to Al-Qaeda and guided by senior Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan.[394][395] In 2012, Russian Intelligence indicated that Al-Qaeda had given a for "forest jihad" and has been starting massive forest fires as part of a strategy of "thousand cuts".[396] Arab world Main articles: Al-Qaeda involvement in Asia, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and USS Cole bombing USS Cole after the October 2000 attack Following Yemeni unification in 1990, Wahhabi networks began moving missionaries into the country. Although it is unlikely bin Laden or Saudi Al-Qaeda were directly involved, the personal connections they made would be established over the next decade and used in the USS Cole bombing.[397] Concerns grew over al-Qaeda's group in Yemen.[398] In Iraq, al-Qaeda forces loosely associated with the leadership were embedded in the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad group commanded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Specializing in suicide operations, they have been a "key driver" of the Sunni insurgency.[399] Although they played a small part in the overall insurgency, between and of suicide bombings which took place in the early years were claimed by Zarqawi's group.[400][401] Reports have indicated that oversights such as the failure to control to the Qa'qaa munitions factory in Yusufiyah have allowed large quantities of munitions to fall into the hands of al-Qaida.[402] In November 2010, the militant group Islamic State of Iraq, which is linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq, threatened to "exterminate Iraqi Christians".[403][404] Al-Qaeda did not begin training Palestinians until the late 1990s.[405] Large groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have rejected an alliance with al-Qaeda, fearing that al-Qaeda will co-opt their cells. This may have changed recently. The Israeli security and intelligence services believe al-Qaeda has managed to infiltrate operatives from the Occupied Territories into Israel, and is waiting for an to attack.[405] As of 2015, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are openly supporting the Army of Conquest,[297][406] an umbrella rebel group fighting in the Syrian Civil War against the Syrian government that reportedly includes an al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front and another Salafi coalition known as Ahrar al-Sham.[301] Kashmir Main article: Kashmir conflict Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri consider India to be a part of an alleged Crusader-Zionist-Hindu conspiracy against the Islamic world.[407] According to a 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, bin Laden was involved in training militants for Jihad in Kashmir while living in Sudan in the early 1990s. By 2001, Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen had become a part of the al-Qaeda coalition.[408] According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), al-Qaeda was thought to have established bases in Pakistan administered Kashmir (in Azad Kashmir, and to some extent in Gilgit–Baltistan) during the 1999 Kargil War and continued to operate there with tacit approval of Pakistan's Intelligence services.[409] Many of the militants active in Kashmir were trained in the same madrasahs as Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Fazlur Rehman Khalil of Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was a signatory of al-Qaeda's 1998 declaration of Jihad against America and its allies.[410] In a 'Letter to American People' (2002), bin Laden wrote that one of the reasons he was fighting America was because of its support to India on the Kashmir issue.[411] In November 2001, Kathmandu airport went on high alert after threats that bin Laden planned to hijack a plane and crash it into a target in Delhi.[412] In 2002, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on a trip to Delhi, suggested that Al-Qaeda was active in Kashmir though he did not have any evidence.[413][414] Rumsfeld proposed hi-tech ground sensors along the Line of Control to prevent militants from infiltrating into Indian-administered Kashmir.[414] An investigation in 2002 found evidence that al-Qaeda and its affiliates were prospering in Pakistan-administered Kashmir with tacit approval of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.[415] In 2002, a special team of Special Air Service and Delta Force was sent into Indian-Administered Kashmir to hunt for bin Laden after receiving reports that he was being sheltered by Kashmiri militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which had been responsible for kidnapping western tourists in Kashmir in 1995.[416] Britain's highest-ranking al-Qaeda operative Rangzieb Ahmed had previously fought in Kashmir with the group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and spent time in Indian prison after being captured in Kashmir.[417] US officials believe al-Qaeda was helping organize attacks in Kashmir in to provoke conflict between India and Pakistan.[418] Their strategy was to force Pakistan to move its troops to the border with India, thereby relieving pressure on al-Qaeda elements hiding in northwestern Pakistan.[419] In 2006 al-Qaeda claimed they had established a wing in Kashmir.[410][420] However Indian Army General H. S. Panag argued that the army had ruled out the presence of al-Qaeda in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Panag also said al-Qaeda had strong ties with Kashmiri militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed based in Pakistan.[421] It has been noted that Waziristan has become a battlefield for Kashmiri militants fighting NATO in support of al-Qaeda and Taliban.[422][423][424] Dhiren Barot, who wrote the Army of Madinah in Kashmir[425] and was an al-Qaeda operative convicted for involvement in the 2004 buildings plot, had received training in weapons and explosives at a militant training camp in Kashmir.[426] Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Kashmiri group Jaish-e-Mohammed, is believed to have met bin Laden several times and received funding from him.[410] In 2002, Jaish-e-Mohammed organized the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl in an operation run in conjunction with al-Qaeda and funded by bin Laden.[427] According to American counter-terrorism expert Bruce Riedel, al-Qaeda and Taliban were closely involved in the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 to Kandahar which led to the release of Maulana Masood Azhar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh from an Indian prison. This hijacking, Riedel said, was rightly described by then Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh as a 'dress rehearsal' for September 11 attacks.[428] Bin Laden personally welcomed Azhar and threw a lavish party in his honor after his release.[429][430] Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been in prison for his role in the 1994 kidnappings of Western tourists in India, went on to murder Daniel Pearl and was sentenced to death in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf, who was one of the accused in 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, was related to Maulana Masood Azhar by marriage.[431] Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri militant group which is thought to be behind 2008 Mumbai attacks, is also known to have strong ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders living in Pakistan.[432] In late 2002, top Al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was arrested while being sheltered by Lashkar-e-Taiba in a safe house in Faisalabad.[433] The FBI believes al-Qaeda and Lashkar have been 'intertwined' for a long time while the CIA has said that al-Qaeda funds Lashkar-e-Taiba.[433] Jean-Louis Bruguière told Reuters in 2009 that "Lashkar-e-Taiba is no longer a Pakistani movement with a Kashmir political or military agenda. Lashkar-e-Taiba is a of al-Qaeda."[434][435] In a video released in 2008, American-born senior al-Qaeda operative Adam Yahiye Gadahn said that "victory in Kashmir has been delayed for years; it is the liberation of the jihad there from this interference which, Allah willing, will be the first step towards victory over the Hindu occupiers of that Islam land."[436] In September 2009, a US drone strike reportedly killed Ilyas Kashmiri who was the chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, a Kashmiri militant group associated with al-Qaeda.[437] Kashmiri was described by Bruce Riedel as a 'prominent' Al-Qaeda[438] while others have described him as head of military operations for al-Qaeda.[439][440] Kashmiri was also charged by the US in a plot against Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper which was at the center of Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.[441] US officials also believe that Kashmiri was involved in the Camp Chapman attack against the CIA.[442] In January 2010, Indian authorities notified Britain of an al-Qaeda plot to hijack an Indian airlines or Air India plane and crash it into a British city. This information was uncovered from interrogation of Amjad Khwaja, an operative of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, who had been arrested in India.[443] In January 2010, US Defense secretary Robert Gates, while on a visit to Pakistan, said that al-Qaeda was seeking to destabilize the region and planning to provoke a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.[444] Internet Al-Qaeda and its successors have migrated online to escape detection in an atmosphere of increased international vigilance. The group's use of the Internet has grown more sophisticated, with online activities that include financing, recruitment, networking, mobilization, publicity, and information dissemination, gathering and sharing.[445] Abu Ayyub al-Masri's al-Qaeda movement in Iraq regularly releases short videos glorifying the activity of jihadist suicide bombers. In addition, both before and after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq), the umbrella organization to which Al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs, the Mujahideen Shura Council, has a regular presence on the Web. The range of multimedia content includes guerrilla training clips, stills of victims about to be murdered, testimonials of suicide bombers, and videos that show participation in jihad through stylized portraits of mosques and musical scores. A website associated with Al-Qaeda posted a video of captured American entrepreneur Nick Berg being decapitated in Iraq. Other decapitation videos and pictures, including those of Paul Johnson, Kim Sun-il, and Daniel Pearl, were first posted on jihadist websites.[citation needed] In December 2004 an audio message claiming to be from bin Laden was posted directly to a website, rather than sending a copy to al Jazeera as he had done in the past. Al-Qaeda turned to the Internet for release of its videos in to be certain they would be available unedited, rather than risk the possibility of al Jazeera editing out anything critical of the Saudi royal family.[446] Alneda.com and Jehad.net were perhaps the most significant al-Qaeda websites. Alneda was initially taken down by American Jon Messner, but the operators resisted by shifting the site to various servers and strategically shifting content.[citation needed] The US government charged a British information technology specialist, Babar Ahmad, with terrorist offences related to his operating a network of English-language al-Qaeda websites, such as Azzam.com. He was convicted and sentenced to 12+1⁄2 years in prison.[447][448][449] Online communications In 2007, al-Qaeda released Mujahedeen Secrets, encryption software used for online and cellular communications. A later version, Mujahideen Secrets 2, was released in 2008.[450] Aviation network al-Qaeda is believed to be operating a clandestine aviation network including "several Boeing 727 aircraft", turboprops and executive jets, according to a 2010 Reuters story. Based on a US Department of Homeland Security report, the story said al-Qaeda is possibly using aircraft to transport drugs and weapons from South America to various unstable countries in West Africa. A Boeing 727 can carry up to ten tons of cargo. The drugs eventually are smuggled to Europe for distribution and, and the weapons are used in conflicts in Africa and possibly elsewhere. Gunmen with links to al-Qaeda have been increasingly kidnapping Europeans for ransom. The from the drug and weapon, and kidnappings can, in turn, fund more militant activities.[451] [New Trading View Logo](