Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist network and militant Islamist organization, not an act or a legal provision. The name, which means "the Base" in Arabic, was founded in the late 1980s by Osama bin Laden and others, including Abdullah Azzam and Mohamed Atef.
Its origin is rooted in the Soviet-Afghan War, where it began as a logistical network, growing out of Makhtab al-Khidamat, to fund and support Muslim fighters, or Mujahideen, against the Soviet Union. The problem it sought to solve initially was foreign occupation of Muslim lands, but its focus shifted to opposing what its leaders considered corrupt Islamic regimes and the presence of foreign powers, particularly the United States, in the Middle East.
Al-Qaeda operates as a decentralized network of autonomous cells and regional affiliates, united by the goal of establishing a global Islamic caliphate governed by Sharia law. Its mechanism involves recruiting, training, and indoctrinating jihadists, and carrying out large-scale terrorist attacks, such as the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. It connects to numerous related organizations, having merged with groups like Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1998, and maintains acknowledged affiliates such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The organization has changed significantly, particularly in its leadership and structure. Following the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 and his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022, the organization has entered a new phase, reportedly under the de facto leadership of Saif al-Adel. This shift has moved the organization from a charismatic vanguard to a more dispersed, systems-oriented network focused on organizational rebuilding and regional insurgent governance, though it maintains a persistent presence in Afghanistan under the Taliban.