In 2001, Bin Laden had al-Ansi travel to the Philippines, where he was to qualify the mujahideen in Sharia and militarily. That same year, al-Ansi assisted As-Sahab, al Qaeda's propaganda arm, in creating two productions: the "American Intervention" and the "State of the Islamic Ummah". After Al-Ansi completed his mission in the Philippines, he tried to return to Afghanistan after the US-led invasion of the country in the wake of the &lt;a href="September%2011%20attacks"&gt;9/11 attacks&lt;/a&gt;. Al-Ansi was detained in Yemen en route to Afghanistan in early 2002; Yemeni authorities released him after six months imprisonment.