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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2031373,00.html
Al-Qaeda: The Second Coming
[Observer-UK] Jason Burke - Nine years after bin Laden's declaration of war on the West and five and a half years after the attacks of 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda is as present as ever on the world stage, linked to violence across half the globe. "Al-Qaeda as an operational, technically capable network, with chains of command leading back to Pakistan from many places, is very much alive and well and continuing to plot," said one security source. Thousands of young Muslims from a wide variety of backgrounds have been mobilized around the world in the last five years, aided by the Internet. Belgian officials point to a recently arrested teenager who had "gone from no engagement at all to full commitment to a suicide attack" in the space of a few weeks "alone with a computer in his bedroom."