US frustration over al-Qaeda 'resurgence'

[rodeodance]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6257013.stm

US frustration over al-Qaeda 'resurgence'
By Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

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Events such as the Madrid bombings of 2004 seemed to back up the idea that the primary threat came from home-grown jihadists who did not necessarily have direct operational contact with the al-Qaeda leadership on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.


President Musharraf says Pakistan is committed to the "war on terror"
But that view has increasingly been challenged, according to intelligence and security officials in a number of countries.

Instead a more complex model has emerged which still has a place for entirely home-grown groups but where a resurgent al-Qaeda leadership has also regrouped and is now able to once again offer local jihadists training and direction.

One interesting aspect is the way in which Mr Negroponte refers to al Qaeda's "leadership" but does not refer once to Osama Bin Laden, nor to the hunt for him specifically and what progress it is (or is not) making.