They sprout like weeds

Opinion: November 8, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Philadelphia Inquirer: That a plot to send bombs disguised as parcels aboard U.S.-bound jetliners was foiled may be grounds for some celebration. But not much.

At least no lives were lost. But what the plot revealed about the uniting of al-Qaida factions in Yemen and Saudi Arabia is disturbing, and raises further questions about the fight in Afghanistan.

The head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, alerted U.S. officials after finding out about the plot from a Saudi militant, Jabir al-Fayfi, who ended up in Yemen after being freed from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2007.

After supposedly undergoing rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia, Fayfi joined a Saudi/Yemeni group called al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, whose members include former Guantanamo prisoners. It’s unclear whether Fayfi was acting as a double agent.

The Saudis are very concerned about the spread of al-Qaida into their country.

An al-Qaida magnet

Yemen, the poorest Arab nation, is attractive to terrorist organizations. Its government is not very strong. In fact, like Afghanistan’s, it has little control over large areas of rural landscape populated by various autonomous tribes. A cease-fire earlier this year ended a civil war that broke out over tribal issues in 2004.

The British defense chief, Gen. Sir David Richards, admitted Yemen’s situation might lead to a re-evaluation of the Afghanistan war. He added that efforts must remain concentrated on Afghanistan to prevent it from becoming a “second Yemen,” which sounds somewhat odd.

Fortunately, efforts since 9/11 to strike the United States have been thwarted. But we know Afghanistan is but one place from which future terrorist attacks may be launched.

President Obama must keep that in mind in calculating whether to stick with his timetable to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan by next year.