Al-Qaida after 9/11

Name: Al-Qaida after 9/11
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ISBN: 9780755648573

The War on Terror and the Decade of Demise

Anne Likuski

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

I.B. Tauris
02 April 2026

Afghan War; Iraq War; Geopolitics; Terrorism, armed struggle

How did the War on Terror impact Al-Qaida in the decade after 9/11? This is the first book to analyse the inner workings of the group through the eyes of its mid-level leaders in Pakistan, who were, in practice, running al-Qaida’s affairs when communications with Osama bin Laden were slow or absent.

The book relies on a large collection of little-known Arabic primary sources about al-Qaida, including the “Abbottabad documents” - the group’s own, internal communications between 2002-2011. Al-Qaida’s performance is assessed in three areas: the war in Afghanistan; the war in Iraq; and international terrorism. Chapters explain why the group’s contributions to the Afghan war were modest, shows the reasons for Al-Qaida’s inability to influence events in Iraq, and charts its fading ability to organize international terrorist attacks.

The Abbottabad documents reveal that Al-Qaida’s demise after 9/11 was not simply the result of effective counterterrorism. Rather, the group’s organizational weaknesses and the fallibilities of individual leaders played a vital role. The book gives us the first glimpse into the instances where bin Laden’s lack of strategy meant al-Qaida’s mid-level leadership had to grapple with the consequences. It also documents the detrimental impact of the relationship between al-Qaida and the Taliban.

By: Anne Likuski
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 337g
ISBN: 9780755648573
ISBN 10: 0755648579
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 02 April 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration Note on Sources Dramatis Personae Maps Chapter 1: The Fall of the Emirate Chapter 2: The Start of the Afghan War Chapter 3: External Operations 2002–2006 Chapter 4: Al-Qaida in Iraq Chapter 5: Al-Qaida and the Taliban Chapter 6: External Operations 2008–2011 Chapter 7: A New Phase for al-Qaida Concluding remarks Bibliography

Anne Likuski is Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Norway. She specializes in al-Qaida’s history, leadership and strategy and jihadism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She is the author of Al-Qaida in Afghanistan (2017).