In the past three years, a number of terrorist groups claiming affiliation to al Qaeda have emerged, despite having different targets and origins. On Thursday, AEI and the Foreign Policy Research Institute hosted an event to discuss the impact of splintering al Qaeda–affiliated groups and whether these groups signify al Qaeda's growing influence throughout the globe.
Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute claimed that the emergence of new al Qaeda–affiliated groups resulted from the splintering and fracturing of new terrorist threats from the "old-guard al Qaeda." He also stressed that the US should defend its intelligence capabilities and focus its analysis on regions rather than on the al Qaeda network as a whole.
Mary Habeck, of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and AEI, disagreed with Watts, arguing that the emergence of different groups elucidates the extent to which al Qaeda has spread in the past three years and the strength of its ideology and methodology. She also emphasized that the growing al Qaeda network represents an imminent threat requiring US action.
Despite presenting differing opinions on the impact of infighting on al Qaeda as whole, panelists agreed that al Qaeda's objectives have surpassed plotting attacks on the United States; al Qaeda strives for insurgencies rather than individual international attacks.
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