“They haven’t gone away, you know.” Gerry Adams’s chilling words, uttered during the peace process, to remind everyone that the IRA still existed, would do as well for al-Qaeda, the architects of the 9/11 outrage, the 25th anniversary of which fell on Friday. Osama bin Laden’s killing in May 2011 may have removed the titular head of al-Qaeda but, neither that well-deserved death, nor the subsequent splintering of al-Qaeda from ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in 2014, has diminished either the virulence or potential danger that al-Qaeda presents.

Al-Qaeda, which now has an undisturbed safe haven and allies, will pose again the sort of threat that 9/11 represents

Al-Qaeda, which now has an undisturbed safe haven and allies, will pose again the sort of threat that 9/11 represents

Reliable reporting is that al-Qaeda is regrouping in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban and, a new departure, the tutelage of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). In essence, Afghanistan is becoming what it was before the 2001 invasion: a safe haven for Islamist extremists, of which al-Qaeda is one. The same reporting suggests up to five training camps have been created and, near Kandahar, the IRGC have been developing an underground complex, similar to those in Iran that have limited the effectiveness of Israeli and American air strikes. In other words, the Islamist terror networks have learned from 25 years of Western counter-strikes, in........

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