CIAO DATE: 03/2010
February 2010
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
This paper traces and assesses al-Qa’ida'’s efforts to launch an insurgency in Saudi Arabia from the mid-1990s until today. It examines the background of Usama bin Ladin’s 1996 declaration of jihad, al-Qa’ida’s activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2002, and the causes and evolution of the campaign waged by the group “al-Qa’ida on the Arabian Peninsula” (AQAP) from 2003 to 2006. The paper argues that despite the widespread view of Saudi Arabia as “al-Qa’ida country,” and despite the recent developments in Yemen, the jihad in Saudi Arabia has failed so far. The late 1990s saw no operations in the Kingdom because Bin Ladin’s infrastructure there was too weak. The AQAP campaign, made possible by the massive influx in 2002 of al-Qa’ida members from Afghanistan, petered out in 2006. Today, practically nothing remains of the original AQAP organization,. Nevertheless, its legacy and propaganda continues to inspire amateur cells, and al-Qa’ida in Yemen is actively planning operations in the Kingdom.
Resource link: The Failure of Jihad in Saudi Arabia [PDF] - 331K