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Al-Qaeda has evolved from a centrally controlled organisation into a dispersed global network. Here’s how its leadership, funding and major regional affiliates operate today.
For much of the world, Al-Qaeda is still associated with Afghanistan, Pakistan and the attacks of September 11, 2001. But the geography of the organisation has changed. Today, one of the most consequential centres of Al-Qaeda-linked militant activity lies thousands of kilometres away in Africa's Sahel ,the vast belt of semi-arid territory running south of the Sahara. Across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, armed groups aligned with Al-Qaeda have expanded their presence, exploite
Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 and Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022. Yet Al-Qaeda survived. Here is how decentralisation and regional affiliates transformed the network.
