As the
President affirmed in his 2010 National Security Strategy, he bears no greater
responsibility than ensuring the safety and security of the American
people.This National Strategy for Counterterrorism sets out our approach to one
of the President’s top national security priorities: disrupting, dismantling,
and eventually defeating al-Qa‘ida and its affiliates and adherents to ensure
the security of our citizens and interests.
In
response to the attacks of September 2001, the United States embarked on a
national effort against al-Qa‘ida, the transnational terrorist organization
responsible for planning and conducting the attacks.As we approach the 10th
anniversary of that day, we can look forward with confidence in our accomplishments
and pride in the resiliency of our nation.We have prevented another
catastrophic attack on our shores; our citizens have not let the specter of
terrorism disrupt their daily lives and activities; our Federal government has
worked to become more integrated, efficient, and effective in its counterterrorism
(CT) efforts; and we have placed our CT campaign in a context that does not
dominate the lives of the American people nor overshadow our approach to the
broad range of our interests.
Yet the
paramount terrorist threat we have faced—al-Qa‘ida and its affiliates and
adherents—has also continued to evolve, often in response to the successes of
the United States and its partners around the world.Our efforts in Afghanistan
and Pakistan have destroyed much of al-Qa‘ida’s leadership and weakened the organization
substantially.Meanwhile, in recent years the source of the threat to the United
States and its allies has shifted in part toward the periphery—to groups
affiliated with but separate from the core of the group in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.This also includes deliberate efforts by al-Qa‘ida to inspire
individuals within the United States to conduct attacks on their own.
Therefore,
this National Strategy for Counterterrorism maintains our focus on pressuring
al-Qa‘ida’s core while emphasizing the need to build foreign partnerships and
capacity and to strengthen our resilience.At the same time, our strategy
augments our focus on confronting the al-Qa‘ida-linked threats that continue to
emerge from beyond its core safehaven in South Asia.
Since
the beginning of 2011, the transformative change sweeping North Africa and the
Middle East— along with the death of Usama bin Laden—has further changed the
nature of the terrorist threat, particularly as the relevance of al-Qa‘ida and
its ideology has been further diminished.Usama Bin Laden’s persistent calls for
violent regime change in the Arab World and perpetual violence against the
United States and our allies as the method to empower Muslim populations stands
in stark contrast to the nonviolent movements for change in the Middle East and
North Africa.In just a few short months, those movements achieved far more
political change than al-Qa‘ida’s years of violence, which has claimed
thousands upon thousands of victims—most of them Muslim.Our support for the
aspirations of people throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and around the
world to live in peace and prosperity under representative governments stands
in marked contrast to al-Qa‘ida’s dark and bankrupt worldview.
To put
it simply: We are bringing targeted force to bear on al-Qa‘ida at a time when
its ideology is also under extreme pressure.Nevertheless, we remain keenly
vigilant to the threat al-Qa‘ida, its affiliates, and adherents pose to the
United States.As expressed in our National Security Strategy, we face the world
as it is, but we will also pursue a strategy for the world we seek.This
Strategy articulates how we will achieve a future in which al-Qa‘ida and its
affiliates and adherents are defeated—and their ideology ultimately meets the
same fate as its founder and leader.
Source: US White House June 2011
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