Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Affairs

Accepting Al Qaeda: The Enemy of the United States' Enemy

| March 9, 2015

Since 9/11, Washington has considered al Qaeda the greatest threat to the United States, one that must be eliminated regardless of cost or time. After Washington killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, it made Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's new leader, its next number one target. But the instability in the Middle East following the Arab revolutions and the meteoric rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) require that Washington rethink its policy toward al Qaeda, particularly its targeting of Zawahiri. Destabilizing al Qaeda at this time may in fact work against U.S. efforts to defeat ISIS....

Continue reading (log in may be required): http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/143238/barak-mendelsohn/accepting-al-qaeda

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Mendelsohn, Barak.“Accepting Al Qaeda: The Enemy of the United States' Enemy.” Foreign Affairs, March 9, 2015.

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