Evolution of al Qaeda - Essay Example

In addition, this research will attempt to show that the United States should have been more cognizant of the beginning of this terrorist group. The origin of this terrorist group started in 1979 when the Soviet invaded Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden, the primary founder of the group, first visited Afghanistan in 1979 and later relocated to areas around Pakistan in 1986 (John, 2011). During the early 1980s, Bin Laden and Abdulla Azzam formed the Maktab al Khidamat commonly known as the ‘Office of Services’, whose main agenda was to recruit for the anti-Soviet jihad (John, 2011).

Azzam was an influential figure in the Muslim Brotherhood based on Jordan (Seth, 2014). The Maktab al Khidamat had recruited many fighters, estimated at the time to be between 10000 and 20000 (John, 2011). In 1988, Bin Laden and Azzam, in conjunction with other associates started to think of how the group could be utilized. In the same year, this base group or Al Qaeda (Arabic word for based) was identified as the force to intervene wherever Muslims were seen to have been threatened (John, 2011).

This was the birth of al Qaeda. After the assassination of Azzam in 1989, and Bin Laden gained control of the Maktab funds and was the primary leader of the al Qaeda group. Years following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, al Qaeda started to form alliances with other militant groups in some Muslim countries (John, 2011). For example, while living in Sudan in 1994, Bin Laden managed to establish the Islamic Army Shura which brought together militant groups from countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Algeria and Somalia among others.

Bin Laden also offered help to groups such as Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Jemaah Islamiyah based in Philippines and Indonesia respectively (John, 2011). Al Qaeda’s influence grew, and its financial resources expanded. There were a number of terrorist attacks in the early to the late 1990s