Al-Qaeda Research Papers

The terrorist group, al-Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1988. It began as a logistical network to support Muslims fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan War (Encyclopædia Britannica). Eventually, when the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the organization dispersed and continued to go against corrupt Islamic regimes and the elements of the western culture, in Islamic states. al-Qaeda combined its Islamic group with other militant Islamist organizations in the Middle East, creating a resistance against Western culture and democratic ideologies. bin Laden established camps to train possible militants in paramilitary skills through the use of military weapons and intense brutality, giving them the power

According to a historian, “Bin Laden's Afghan Arabs, volunteer fighters from across the Arab world who came to Afghanistan, were ancillary to the fight” (Brookshire). Osama bin Laden regards messages sent from God in the Quran, to advocate the importance of religion and is able to persuade Arabs in fighting for Afghanistan. The anti-communist Muslims battled with the Soviets who supported a communist Afghanistan for nine years. Osama bin Laden was able to recruit Muslims who came to Afghanistan, providing them with more support on the battlefield. Without these ‘ancillary’ soldiers, Afghanistan would not have been able to defeat one of the major Superpowers, the Soviet Union. al-Qaeda wanted power for all the wrong reasons, and did not choose to improve the development of Afghanistan. Instead, “he recruited thousands of Muslims whose ideas about Islam matched his” (“Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda”), and set out to create intense fighters who would be able to take on any problem. The organization was meant to benefit the well-being of Afghanistan and to prevent the Soviets from controlling its communist government. Essentially, al-Qaeda was created to ensure the safety of the civilians, but now the terrorist group terrorizes the country with threats and acts of violence. Osama bin Laden did not only use his resources to recruit soldiers and gain ammunition, but to continue training “violent terrorists” (“Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda”) and create religious extremists that founded al-Qaeda. As the founder of al-Qaeda, he “attracted… mujahidin (guerilla) fighters against real and perceived enemies of Islam” (Martin). Osama bin Laden is able to rise in power and form a government, typically under his rule. Muslims were able to overcome the challenges they faced when fighting the Soviet troops during the Afghan War, and believed that