Al-Qaeda (Arabic for "The Base") is an international militant Islamist organization and a global terrorist network. It is an institution that grew out of the Makhtab al-Khidamat (Services Office), which was created to fund fighters in Afghanistan.
The organization was founded in the late 1980s by Usama bin Laden and others, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mohamed Atef. Its initial purpose was to serve as a logistical network to support Muslim fighters, known as mujahideen, against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. After the Soviet withdrawal, al-Qaeda shifted its focus to opposing U.S. and Western influence in the Middle East, advocating for a global jihad to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate governed by Sharia law. A key goal was to drive U.S. armed forces out of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.
Al-Qaeda operates as a decentralized network of autonomous cells and regional affiliates, which is a mechanism that allows it to maintain a global reach. While it once had a more centralized structure with a majlis al shura (consultation council) and a military committee, the organization transformed into a highly decentralized network after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. This structure allows it to share expertise, transfer resources, and conduct joint operations with groups like al-Shabaab in Somalia and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in the Sahel.
Al-Qaeda is closely connected to the Taliban, which provided it with a "permissive haven" in Afghanistan from 1996 until late 2001, and again after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. It also has acknowledged affiliates in Iraq, North Africa, and Yemen. The organization's ideology and actions are often contrasted with its rival, the Islamic State (ISIS), with which it competes for leadership of the global jihadist movement.
The organization has changed significantly since its founding. Following the death of Usama bin Laden in 2011 and his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022, the organization's leadership has been attenuated. Under the de facto leadership of Saif al-Adel, al-Qaeda has entered a phase focused on organizational rebuilding, shifting from a charismatic, centralized vanguard to a more disciplined, systems-oriented movement that prioritizes local embedding and regional conflicts over spectacular external operations. However, its core goal of global jihad and its network of affiliates remain.