Revisiting al-Qaida’s Foundation and Early History

This article examines the early rise and fall of al-Qaida from its emergence in early 1987 as a splinter group ofMaktab al-Khadamat through to its organisational decline following the defeat of the Arab-Afghans at the 1989Battle of Jalalabad. Drawing from first-hand accounts and primary materials, it contributes a history of al-Qaida’sfirst stage of development and identifies the factors that drove the organisation’s early growth and decline. Thearticle finds that two factors were crucial to al-Qaida’s early growth: battlefield success and access to combatopportunities for volunteer youths. It determines that al-Qaida’s defeat at Jalalabad and bin Laden’s orderedwithdrawal from combat were the cause of its near terminal decline. The article concludes by outlining that thebitter lesson al-Qaida took from its early history was that to attract and retain a significant number of youths, itmust appear victorious in battle, and be able to provide access to combat opportunities.