After Bin Laden: Al Qaeda, the Next Generation

An “intelligent and fascinatingly readable” examination of Al Qaeda after the death of its longtime leader, by the renowned Arab world journalist (Pat Lancaster, editor in chief of Middle East Magazine). Osama bin Laden is dead, yet Al Qaeda remains the CIA’s number one threat. Since the 9/11 attacks on the United States, and the US military’s subsequent strikes, the organization has evolved into a much more complex and far-flung entity. This richly documented account of Al Qaeda moves well beyond the headlines to offer readers a deeper understanding of the organization’s aims, strategies, and fortunes in a new era of conflict with the United States and the Western powers. Drawing on firsthand accounts and interviews with uniquely well-placed sources within Al Qaeda, noted journalist and expert Abdel Bari Atwan investigates the movement’s new internal dynamics, how it survives financially, and how its political appeal has changed dramatically following the Arab Spring. Atwan profiles the next generation of leaders and explores both the new methods they embrace―especially on the digital battlefield―as well as the global range of their operations and local variations in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and elsewhere.