al-Qaeda (a.k.a. al-Qaida, al-Qa'ida) - Council on Foreign Relations

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From Council on Foreign Relations --

Who exactly is al-Qaeda?  What are the origins?  Who is their leader?  Where are they based? What terrorist acts are they responsible for?  These are all things that are critical for understanding the conflict in the Middle East and al-Qaeda's involvement, from Afghanistan, to Pakistan, to Iraq.

It seeks to rid Muslim countries of what it sees as the profane influence of the West and replace their governments with fundamentalist Islamic regimes. After al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on America, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda’s bases there and overthrow the Taliban, the country’s Muslim fundamentalist rulers who harbored bin Laden and his followers. “Al-Qaeda” is Arabic for “The Base.”