Colonel Ali Abdullah Salih became president of North Yemen in 1978 and then of the Republic of Yemen after unification of the North with the former Marxist South in 1990. From 1978 through the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Salih sought to gain leverage for his... MORE

For centuries, tribal politics in Yemen have been driven by one simple concept: loyalty is sold to the highest bidder. While both Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government have used this principle to their advantage, it is al-Qaeda that has been the high bidder in... MORE

In the 1980's the CIA commenced a vast covert operation to arm the anti-Soviet Mujahideen factions in Afghanistan as a means of turning the Soviet Fortieth Expeditionary Army's invasion of this Central Asian country into a Vietnam-style quagmire. In forging this dangerous new transnational holy... MORE

Afghanistan and Pakistan The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 did not come as a surprise to the Iranian intelligence community, primarily because they had been engaged in their own covert war against the Taliban and its international Islamist allies for many years. Indeed, under... MORE

Although President Salih condemned American military action against insurgents in Fallujah, saying that terror must be fought with persuasion and dialogue rather than anti-personnel bombs (al-Motamar 2004), he welcomed the new U.S.-led Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), based in Djibouti. Yemen has been... MORE

The soldiers believed they came that spring to free a part of the Middle East from the tyranny of terrorists and evil men. What amazed them was the warm welcome from Shi’ite Muslims in the south and the Capital. The victors confidently sent in their... MORE

Ansar al-Islam is often touted as the Kurdish constituency of al-Qaeda. It has been grabbing the headlines from its inception in September 2001. Reports have traced its influence from Afghanistan to Italy. How much of the exploits attributed to Ansar al-Islam is fact or fiction... MORE

Translator’s note: In light of the recent attacks in the Saudi city of Khobar, the Jamestown Foundation presents the following letter entitled “To All Desiring Jihad in the Lands of the Arab Peninsula.” Attributed to Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, the text appeared in issue 10 of... MORE

Few observers of the post-Saddam Iraqi scene expected an insurgency to break out in Iraq so shortly after conventional combat operations were officially declared to be over. When the insurgency erupted in May 2003, there was little concern on the part of senior U.S. strategic... MORE

Jamestown is proud to present this special issue focusing on Iraq. One of the primary questions addressed here is who and what comprises the insurgency in Iraq. These articles present a complex picture of the conflict; a number of disparate groups with separate aims and... MORE