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Yemen s instability has direct implications for the United States. Even as we work to support Yemen s stability and the aspirations of the Yemeni people, the defeat of AQAP will remain our CT priority in the region, and we will continue to leverage and strengthen our partnerships to achieve this end. Our CT efforts in Yemen are embedded in a broader effort to stabilize the country and prevent state failure; such a scenario would have significant adverse implications for the United States and the region. The United States is working with regional and international partners to advance a number of political and economic development initiatives that address the underlying conditions that allow Yemen to serve as a safehaven for AQAP. These broader efforts complement those CT initiatives that are focused on building the capacity of Yemeni security services so they are able eventually to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat AQAP with only limited U.S. involvement. Terrorist Financing. The Arabian Peninsula remains the most important source of financial support for al-Qa ida and its affiliates and adherents around the world. This is despite the fact that important progress has been made by some of our Gulf partners, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in disrupting terrorist financial support networks. Other countries in the region have not made the same political commitment to prioritize action against al-Qa ida terrorist financing activity and, as a consequence, remain relatively permissive operating environments for al-Qa ida financiers and facilitators. The United States will continue to emphasize disrupting the access of terrorists especially al-Qa ida, its affiliates, and its adherents to sources of financial support. We will continue to push for enhanced unilateral action by these governments and closer cooperation with the United States while retaining our ability to take unilateral action as well. East Africa: Al-Qa ida in East Africa and Al-Shabaab In East Africa we pursue a strategy focused on dismantling al-Qa ida elements while building the capacity of countries and local administrations to serve as countervailing forces to the supporters of al-Qa ida and the purveyors of instability that enable the transnational terrorist threat to persist & & 14 NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR COUNTERTERRORISM Somalia s chaotic and unsettled political situation has challenged the security environment in East Africa for a generation, undermining regional stability and creating a humanitarian relief challenge that will likely extend well into the future. Partly owing to this persistent instability and disorder, the United States faces terrorist enemies in East Africa that threaten our people, our interests, and our allies. Al-Qa ida elements continue to be the primary CT focus of the United States in light of clear indications of their ongoing intent to conduct attacks. Their presence within al-Shabaab is increasingly leading that group to pose a regional threat with growing transregional ties to other al-Qa ida affiliates and ambitions on the part of some to participate more actively in al-Qa ida-inspired violence. Influenced by its al-Qa ida elements, al-Shabaab has used terrorist tactics in its insurgency in Somalia, and could motivated to advance its insurgency or to further its al-Qa ida-agenda or both strike outside Somalia in East Africa, as it did in Uganda, as well as outside the region. Europe Europe remains a target of al-Qa ida and its affiliates and adherents and is a potential gateway for ter- rorists to attack the U.S. Homeland. Repeated and attempted attacks such as those in Madrid in 2004, London in 2005 and 2006, and Scotland and Germany in 2007 highlight al-Qa ida and its affiliates and adherents continued focus on striking in Europe. Although many individuals involved in plotting within and against European nations have been arrested in recent years, al-Qa ida and its affiliates and adherents will continue to maintain and build infrastructure in Europe that could potentially support future terrorist attack planning, logistical support, and fundraising efforts. Europe also faces a threat from [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |