25 Years After 9/11: Tracing The Rise And Fall Of al Qaeda

In the 25 years since al Qaeda terrorists hijacked passenger jets and flew them into New York's World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, the group founded by Osama bin Laden has spawned affiliates and inspired attacks around the world. While it has suffered setbacks, notably bin Laden's killing in 2011 by US forces and the emergence of Islamic State as a rival, experts say al Qaeda still serves as a source of support and inspiration for terrorists in many regions, particularly in Africa.WHAT IS AL QAEDA?Al Qaeda emerged as a transnational jihadist network in the late 1980s under the leadership of bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi-born terrorist who had helped recruit and funnel support to Arab volunteers fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan after 1979 and fought there himself.Al Qaeda became a magnet for terrorists who aspired to establish hardline Islamist rule and who shared common hostility to the United…