FOUNDATION

Resurgence of Al-Qaeda in South Asia Post-US DrawdownThe group also went out of its way to start creating a network ofassociated groups and allies in different parts of the immediateneighbourhood of Afghanistan. The leaders planned to “instigate othergroups” to share the responsibility of keeping the jihadi operations alive totire out the enemy by creating different points of conflict. In this context,the leadership displayed greater accommodation of 'local' leaders whohad a strong following and gave considerable operational autonomy. Theal-Qaeda leadership insisted on choosing the targets.There is evidence to suggest that the group, suffering leadership andresource attrition, was also busy crafting an alternative strategy to dealwith the military campaign launched by the US and its allies. One movewas to keep a close watch on key military and political news emanatingfrom the West and its allied countries, including Pakistan. This was done atthe local as well as at the central level to “extract new ideas and learntactics and tricks of the enemy...to discover points of weakness”. Thegroup also began exploring and promoting 'cheaper' ways of causingharm. For instance, extracting chlorate from salt, or changing the shapeof materials to avoid capture in transit, and using easily available tools likegas cylinder and cars to carry out attacks. The cadres were asked to seekthe help of criminal 'brothers' to procure weapons and related materials.These moves also strengthened what lies at the heart of al-Qaeda'ssurvival–the shield of secrecy. Despite being actively pursued by some ofthe most powerful intelligence and security agencies of the world since2001, al-Qaeda's command and control, operational methods andoutreach programmes remain no less obscure. Some of the terroristleaders survived and avoided capture simply by staying off cell phonesand radios and instead relying on couriers or face-to-face meetings. Whenthey travelled to populated areas, they would stay among women andchildren which kept them relatively safe from the US bombings.www.orfonline.org 9