Word: qaeda
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...Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that forces the tribes to take collective responsibility for the actions of their members. Justice follows the tribal code and is meted out by clan elders who consult in public gatherings called jirgas. It was an imperfect solution to a difficult problem. But when al-Qaeda leaders fled Afghanistan in the wake of the 2001 war on their Taliban hosts and took refuge in the tribal areas, it became downright dangerous...
...President asks, "How are we doing on No. 1 and No. 2?"--meaning Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The answer, more often than not, amounts to "Same as last week, Mr. President." Despite a seven-year manhunt along the lawless frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan, al-Qaeda's leader and his deputy remain at large, thanks to their superior knowledge of the terrain and the protection of local tribes. Now bin Laden and al-Zawahiri have an added advantage: the precarious state of Pakistani politics...
Counterterrorism officials say the best hope for nabbing No. 1 and No. 2 may lie in the capture of second-tier al-Qaeda commanders who know where their bosses are hiding. A recent CIA report speculates that bin Laden has long-term kidney disease and may have only months to live, two U.S. officials familiar with the report told TIME. (A CIA spokesman denied the report exists.) The Pentagon has requested that Bush sign an "execute order" expanding its authority to go after these commanders in Pakistani territory; senior counterterrorism and Defense Department officials tell TIME that broader authority...
...Administration limited cross-border operations when General Pervez Musharraf was in charge in Islamabad, on the grounds that they might undermine the authority of a key ally in the war on terrorism. Musharraf's troops were meant to track down al-Qaeda commanders on the Pakistani side of the border, a task they performed fitfully. When a coalition of democratic parties came to power after elections in February, the Administration braced itself for even less help hunting terrorists. Sure enough, the new government scaled back antiterrorism operations and promised to find a political solution to the growing pro--al-Qaeda...
...Laden remains determined to kill large numbers of Westerners and disrupt the global economy. Since 9/11, al-Qaeda and its affiliates have bombed Western-owned hotels around the Muslim world, attacked a number of Jewish targets and conducted suicide operations against oil facilities in the Middle East; we can expect more of the same in the future. Al-Qaeda has also used new tactics and weapons - like the surface-to-air missile that nearly brought down an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002. And it retains a long-standing desire to acquire a radiological bomb. But al-Qaeda's most...