The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) report concluded Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda remained nearly the threat it was on September 11, 2001.
The IISS said the year to mid-2007 showed that "core Al Qaeda is proving adaptable and resilient, and has retained the ability to plan and co-ordinate large-scale attacks".
LONDON: A resilient Al Qaeda can still plan and carry out "spectacular" attacks in Western countries even if it is harder to stage one on the scale of 9/11, an influential thinktank said in a new report released yesterday.
"The bottom line is that for six years the US and its allies have been struggling to eliminate this threat and it is becoming increasingly clear that they have not succeeded in doing so," analyst Nigel Inkster said.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) report concluded Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda remained nearly the threat it was on September 11, 2001.
The IISS said the year to mid-2007 showed that "core Al Qaeda is proving adaptable and resilient, and has retained the ability to plan and co-ordinate large-scale attacks".
Smaller jihadist groups had sworn formal allegiance to Al Qaeda while alleged plots uncovered in Europe, Canada, the Gulf and north Africa "point to a growing trend towards radicalisation within the Islamic world", it added.
Inkster said Al Qaeda is gaining "strategic reach" in the "badlands" of northwest Pakistan where indigenous extremist groups are aligning themselves with the network.
The survey said the "long-term challenge" for governments in Western and Muslim countries is to "confront" the extremist ideology which gives rise to the terrorism spread by Al Qaeda.
It questioned the approach of some governments in Muslim countries which try to "de-radicalise" youngsters by urging them to consider non-violent responses without challenging the premise that Muslims are victims of injustice.
