Al Qaeda Is Still Planning For The Next 9/11

The twin towers of the World Trade Center billow smoke after hijacked airliners crashed into them early September 11, 2001. Seven years after the deadliest attack on the United States, Al-Qaeda's masterminds remain beyond US reach, stirring violence and plotting new attacks on the West, officials and analysts say. (AFP/File/Henny Ray Abrams)

Seven Years After 9/11, Al-Qaeda Leaders Plot On In Safe Havens -- Yahoo News/AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Seven years after the deadliest attack on the United States, Al-Qaeda's masterminds remain beyond US reach, stirring violence and plotting new attacks on the West, officials and analysts say.

From sanctuaries in nuclear armed Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are presiding over an Al-Qaeda that has sprung back from serious setbacks with help from its old friends, the Taliban, they say.

They are "not only still at large, but actively communicating with their followers around the world by video messages, and actively engaged in supporting two wars against American forces -- in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer.

With political turmoil in Pakistan and a revived Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda is in the thick of things once again despite shattering losses in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

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My Comment: Another 9/11 anniversary coming up .... for me it still feels like yesterday.