259 Javier Jordán Drone attacks campaign in Yemen new transnational action (which, we will recall, was thwarted because an alleged terrorist was working for the Saudi intelligence services) and this was moreover followed by the death of the head of external operations, Fahd Al Quso. These facts would point towards a weakening of the AQAP transnational capacity, but we do not yet have a sufficient time perspective in order to assess whether this is merely a passing phase or a permanent situation, or to establish a clear correlation between the death of the AQAP commanding officers who were associated with the overseas dimension of the organisation and the reduction of its transnational profile. The deaths of Al Awlaki and Samir Khan has not however had the influence of placing a stop on the continuity of the Inspire magazine. After these acts, AAP has published a further five editions, available on the Internet. On the other hand, there are grounds for thinking that the American air strikes have limited the interest of AQAP in attracting volunteers from Europe and the United States to its training camps. Internet is not enough for the acquisition of terrorist know-how. While some knowledge can be learned in theoretical classes, or via a web site, putting this into practice in real situations –especially in hostile environments- is usually tough. The performance of the terrorist activity in complex operations requires a series of skills that are not acquired just by reading about them. For this reason, the terrorist organisations that aim to carry out sophisticated terrorist campaigns need physical spaces where they can train their members, over a prolonged time period and with real armies.47 For example, the group that was broken up in Cardiff (the United Kingdom), in December 2010, delayed the preparation of the attacks it was thinking of carrying out in London until it could receive training abroad (that it was unable to get in the end). Amongst other factors, the Cardiff group had been radicalised by reading the scripts of Anwar Al Awlaki and the contents of the Inspire magazine, but that propaganda was not enough for them to acquire knowledge and operating skills.48 However, AQAP –in spite of having training camps in the areas under its control- it has not developed a system for training foreign volunteers similar to that maintained by Al Qaeda central, first in Afghanistan and later on in the tribal regions of Pakistan. As has been stated, the testimony from the terrain speak about some volunteers from Europe, but a very limited number of these. Just before dying in the drone strike, Samir Khan drew up a manual directed at potential foreign recruits. It warned them about the lack of trust they would have to deal with when they joined AQAP, and the type of questions that they should avoid so as to not be put on a blacklist of possible spies. In fact, Samir Khan advised against travelling to Yemen. On the other hand, he encouraged jihadist sympathisers to attack using their own (and usually insufficient) 47 Burton, Fred, “Beware of ‘Kramer’: Tradecraft and the New Jihadists”, Stratfor, January 18, 2006. 48 Gardham, Duncan, “‘Suicide bomb plotter’ told wife it was best they split up”, The Telegraph, November 16, 2011.
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