Word: qaeda
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Nobody wants a death threat from Osama bin Laden. Still, Thursday's release of an audio message from the al-Qaeda supremo calling for Somalis to overthrow their new President, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, may be taken as a compliment in the world's most failed state. In an 11-minute message focused entirely on Somalia and entitled "Fight on, champions of Somalia," bin Laden claimed Sheik Sharif's appointment, which came after he was elected by Somali lawmakers on Jan. 31, was "induced by the American envoy in Kenya," a reference to the U.S. ambassador in Nairobi, Michael Ranneberger...
...after ejecting the city's long-sparring warlords. The ICU imposed strict Shari'a law and, unwisely, declared a jihad on Ethiopia, which subsequently invaded and overthrew it at the end of 2006. In addition, the ICU tolerated the presence of extreme Islamist militants, including the Somali-based al-Qaeda group that blew up U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing more than 200 people. (See pictures of al-Qaeda...
...TIME that bin Laden's message would only bolster Sharif's standing in his own country. "There's nothing that plays as poorly in Somalia as foreigners trying to advance their own agenda in Somalia - telling them who they may or may not have as a leader - and al-Qaeda is falling into that category. In some ways, you could not script this any better for the new government. On paper, it all looks excellent...
...Read a TIME cover story on al-Qaeda...
...officials had estimated would be needed to defend the country shortly after the U.S. invaded in late 2001. But the beefed up force is needed to battle surging enemies led by the Taliban - scattered by the U.S. in 2001, but who have since returned with a vengeance - and al-Qaeda. The current Afghan military comprises about 90,000 troops, slated to rise to 134,000, while there are 80,000 men in the national police...