Al Qaeda is one of the most feared terrorist organizations that has ever existed. The attacks carried out on September 11, 2001 forever changed the world’s view of terrorism and entirely transformed the agenda of international affairs, forcing perhaps the world’s greatest superpower to launch two long-lasting wars (Gerges, 2011). It can be argued that the devastating events of that day helped Al Qaeda to do more than kill several thousands of people—the goal of the violent act was to disseminate terror in the Western world (Seib & Janbek, 2011). The reports and images of the September 11th events were quickly circulated by the media, thereby advancing the political agenda of the group. The attacks inexorably shifted the focus of global politics, forcing the world to recognize a “small group of Muslim extremists” as a threat to Western values, even to the point where the latter became the embodiment of a terrorist organization for all Westerners (Gerges, 2011). Its leader, Osama bin Laden, became a symbol of Al Qaeda and its pernicious ideology of global jihad (Seib & Janbek, 2011). The Emergence of Al Qaeda Al Qaeda started as a part of the anti-Soviet movement in Afghanistan in the early 1980s (Byman, 2015). The politics of the region were already turbulent at the time; however, the Soviet invasion, which was meant to help to strengthen the burgeoning communist regime in the country, led to the wide-spread uprising of Islamist and tribal fighters. These groups were supported by President Carter who, along with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, provided them with funding and training (Byman, 2015). However, it is widely considered that jihadist ideology existed before that time, even though it was not anywhere close to what we observe today. The militarists fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan gave rise to the broader jihadist movement in their local communities. They were supported by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) throughout the 1980s, even before the Soviet troops had invaded the country (Byman, 2015). According to Byman, the United States, along with Saudi Arabia, provided the groups of anti-communist fighters (collectively known as the mujahedin) with military aid, the cost of which amounted to several billions of dollars (Byman, 2015). The counterinsurgency operation launched by the Soviet forces resulted in the deaths of around one million civilians and more than 75,000 mujahedin (Byman, 2015). Therefore, many residents of Afghanistan had to seek refuge in Pakistan, making that county an epicenter of anti-Soviet resistance. Renowned Islamic activist Shaykh Abdullah Azzam made a visit to Pakistan, where he supported the mujahedin. He also asked his fellow Muslims to assist Afghanistan in fighting the Soviets. It can be argued that the anti-Soviet struggle turned him into the most prominent ideologue of radical Islam. In 1984, Azzam wrote a religious decree titled “Defense of Muslim Lands” (also known as fatwa), where he claimed that a territory rightfully belonging to Muslims had been desecrated by infidels (Byman, 2015). He argued that the fight against the Soviet troops was a communal duty of all Muslims. The ideas of Azzam quickly gained traction because of the brutality of the Soviet military operation that completely devastated Afghanistan. The notion that