What was the mission of al-Qaeda?

Answer 1

What was the mission of al-Qaeda?

• to force the Soviet Union's troops out of Afghanistan and destroy their supporters
• to train the Taliban forces and help them form a government in Afghanistan after the Soviets left
• to destroy all non-Muslims and their Muslim supporters and form a central Islamic government
• to destroy all terrorist training camps outside of Afghanistan and keep their militants close at hand for assignments
• to remove foreigners from Arab land and, once gone, to leave them alone

Answer 2

Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist organization. Al-Qaeda's mission is to bring about the Fall of the West and the Islamicization (both cultural, religious, and political) of Western Nations. Their organization sought refuge in several Arab and Muslim countries and found space to grow in Afghanistan until the American Invasion in 2001. Most of the members of al-Qaeda prior to 2001 were Afghan Mujahedin who had recently ejected the Soviet Occupation force that had been in the country from 1979-1989.

Since that point, they have grown cells in numerous other countries, but focused their greatest efforts in Franchising. Franchising means that a nondescript Arab militant group will begin to call themselves Al-Qaeda and advocate for Al-Qaeda's goals without actually being connected to Al-Qaeda's central command structure. In return, Al-Qaeda will donate funds to this militant group to pursue its aims. As a result, people who identify as Al-Qaeda may not even be connected to the Al-Qaeda leadership in the same way that the individual owners of McDonald's Restaurants do not necessarily have a connection with McDonald's Executives.