Al Qaeda Seen Aiming at Targets Outside U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - Al Qaeda is expected to shift strategy under new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, placing a higher priority on attacking the U.S. and Western targets overseas, where plots are easier to execute than on the U.S. homeland, say U.S. officials.

This broader attack strategy advocated by Mr. Zawahiri better aligns the goals of al Qaeda's leaders in Pakistan and affiliates, particularly in Yemen, which are increasingly becoming the group's frontline operators.

The modus operandi of al Qaeda's branch in Yemen is to conduct any type of attack possible, whether or not it will have a spectacular result, U.S. officials say.

As a result, the U.S. may have to alter its approach to counterterrorism operations, especially if al Qaeda's Yemen and North African branches try to seek out U.S. or other Western targets in Europe or Africa. Such attacks would be reminiscent of al Qaeda's first U.S. attack—the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania for which Mr. Zawahiri has been indicted.

"I would not be surprised to see potentially 1990s-style attacks at the U.S. embassies and consulates overseas whether it's in Pakistan or Africa or possibly even Afghanistan," said Seth Jones, a political scientist at Rand Corp., who is writing a book on al Qaeda.

He added that he would expect al Qaeda to target military, diplomatic or other U.S. government institutions overseas.

The Obama administration said last month it still considered al Qaeda and its acolytes to be the "pre-eminent security threat to the United States" even after former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's killing in Pakistan by U.S. forces in May. But for the U.S. and European allies, it means counterterrorism officials must track a more dispersed threat, according to the Wall Street Journal.