At its start, what was the primary goal of Al-Qaeda?
1 Answer
Al-Qaeda has its roots in the 80's Soviet conflict in Afghanistan. From there, the Islamic radicals at the end of the conflict decided to enforce sharia law.
Explanation:
After the Soviet Union withdrew in 1989, the Communist government that Mohammad Najibullah established lasted for three more years, before being run over by the mujahideen, or radical Muslims. These radical Muslims couldn't decide on a style of government, so there was a lot of fighting.
Notes from the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, and Osama bin Laden support the idea that al-Qaeda was formed on August 11, 1988, formally being formed on August 20, 1988. After Azzam was assassinated in 1989, many people joined al-Qaeda.
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, which put the ruling House of Saud at risk. Bin Laden offered the support of his mujahideen to King Fahd, but Fahd declined and instead allowed the U.S. to deploy troops to help. Fahd doing this angered bin Laden greatly, as he believed it dirtied the land between Medina and Mecca. So, he talked bad about Fahd, and as a result was kicked out.
He brought al-Qaeda with him to Sudan. Still talking bad about Fahd, he wasn't liked much by the Sudanese government. In 1994, Fahd sent an emissary to get bin Laden's passport. After that, his Sudanese citizenship was revoked and his family publicly disowned him. After a failed assassasination attempt on the Egyptian President, Mubarak bin Laden was forced to retreat to Afghanistan because of the new laws cracking down on Islamist terrorism.
After the Sudanese kicked bin Laden out in 1996, he retreated to Afghanistan, where the Taliban had control of the government. There, he chilled as part of Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense. Soon after, al-Qaeda declared its jihad to expel all American troops from what they believed was Islamic land.
In 1998, bin-Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and with a couple other leaders, signed a fatwa, which pretty much a declaration of war against Americans. They declared, under the World Islamic Front for Combat Against the Jews and Crusaders,
"[T]he ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the holy mosque [in Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah."
They wanted to kill Americans because they believed it was their religious duty.
