42 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos (IEEE) Núm. 4 / 2014 Abstract This paper puts into context the knowledge accumulated on the terrorist organization al Qaeda during the past 15 years. It briefly evaluates the treatment given, fundamentally from the academia, to the study of al Qaeda, and how it could have lead to misinterpretations. The article points out an abandonment of rigour amongst some academics, in favor of immediacy in order to be the first to publish, when studying the phenomenon of religious Islamist terrorism. Subsequently, the history of al Qaeda is studied from its origins till its partial dismemberment and dismantling in Pakistan in the middle of the past decade. In elaborating this study, the limited information available from the primary sources, like letters from Abbottabad and other documents from the Harmony Project at CTC, are used. Keywords Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, terrorism, Pakistan, jihad.
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