While Washington builds pressure on Pakistan to conduct an operation in Waziristan, Al Qaeda is fast building up new strongholds and taking recourse to more sophisticated methods to target the West. The impression one gets is that the terrorist network is more inventive and efficient than the US. Meanwhile Al Qaeda is widening its recruiting base practically in all the continents.
On Monday, four people were arrested in Athens for plotting to send parcel bombs to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and three foreign embassies in the Greek capital. While the identities of those nabbed are yet to be disclosed, there are indications that at least some of them are local people. The Al-Qaeda is exploiting all possible gaps in the security system to launch attacks. Last week, two parcel bombs were dispatched from Yemen to synagogues in the US by air cargo and could only be removed from the planes in Dubai and London on intelligence provided by Saudi Arabia. The wires attached to the bombs were so thin they couldn’t be seen on an X-ray, confirming the opinion that sophisticated bombs could beat X-ray machines and bomb-sniffing dogs. Had these bombs exploded during transit, the loss of life would have been significant. An upper-class Sudanese professional nicknamed underwear bomber managed to board the plane last Christmas to down the Detroit-bound jetliner and was nabbed only by chance. While the US totally relies on the use of force to defeat the terrorists, Al Qaeda is increasingly using the internet to get recruits from all over the world. For this, the organization exploits the weak points in the US policy like its blind and unstinted support to Israel and the killings of innocent civilians, first in Iraq and now in Afghanistan.
Instead of wasting energies on admonishing Pakistan, Washington has to stop countries like Yemen and Somalia turning into Al Qaedas new strongholds. There is a need on the part of the US to spend at least as much money on building Iraq and Afghanistan as it has on destroying them. President Obama needs to fulfil his promise to end Israeli land-grabbing and help in the creation of a Palestinian state. Unless the West manages to win the hearts and minds, it cannot hope to win the war against terrorism.