Afghanistan may not be the safe haven for Islamist terrorists it once was. Yes, it’s still a haven for terrorists—it’s just no longer as safe for them, thanks to forces from America, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and several other nations keeping al Qaeda on the run. Considering the difficulty al Qaeda is now having in keeping its operations consolidated in the face of this military threat, it is only natural it would consider moving its center of operations.

American, French, Italian, Algerian and Tunisian counterterrorism officials now fear that the vast, thinly governed stretches of North Africa may become a new al Qaeda center of operations.

In August 2006, al Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, announced a new alliance with the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (gspc). The Salafist Group embraced its new alliance with al Qaeda wholeheartedly and within a few months changed its name to al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb. This group has vowed to organize extremist groups across North Africa and join the remnants of al Qaeda into a new international force for jihad.

According to a Washington Institute for Near East Policy report, this branch of al Qaeda is recruiting terrorists from across North Africa and either funneling them into Iraq to fight American troops or deploying them into European nations to carry out missions of terror. North African terrorists were instrumental in both the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and in the 2004 Madrid bombings. What started as a movement to overthrow the Algerian secular government and set up an Islamic theocracy is becoming a movement for global jihad.

European Threat

If Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were to become the new epicenter of the al Qaeda terrorist network, Europe would be seriously threatened. North Africa is a major source of both legal and illegal immigrants into Europe, and there are many ethnically North African communities already inside European nations. Al Qaeda bases in North Africa pose almost the same threat to Europe as al Qaeda bases in Mexico would pose to the United States. It is only 8 miles across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco to Spain and not much more than that from Tunisia to Italy.

“We know from cases that we’re working on that the gspc’s mission is now to recruit people in Morocco and Tunisia, train them and send them back to their countries of origin or Europe to mount attacks,” said French counterterrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière last year. Bruguière calls the Algerian group the biggest terrorist threat facing France today.

In 2003, Germany paid €5 million (us$6.5 million) to secure the release of some of the 32 European tourists who were kidnapped in southern Algeria by a gspc leader. Now the Austrian foreign minister has spent the first few days of this month in Algeria and Mali trying to secure the release of two missing Austrians whom al Qaeda is believed to be holding hostage in the Sahara. The al Qaeda group is demanding the release of 10 Islamic militants in return for the two hostages.

High unemployment rates and dissatisfaction with current governments are turning more and more North Africans to political Islam for solutions. The gspc was founded in 1992 in an attempt to aid the Islamist side of an Algerian civil war. The terrorist cause definitely has its share of supporters in the region. In this type of environment, terrorists can swim like fish throughout the sea of the population. Despite opposition from the local governments, these terrorist cells are too embedded to be eradicated by North African officials alone. The mountains and deserts of North Africa are set to become a stronghold for radical Islam, a base of operations for al Qaeda, and a major threat to Europe.

An Ancient Prophecy

Anciently, this vast region spanning from Morocco to the western border of Egypt was known as Libya. This region is mentioned in the biblical book of Daniel, chapter 11, verses 40-43. This passage is about an end-time clash between a German-led Holy Roman Empire (the “king of the north”) and an Iranian-led Islamic caliphate (the “king of the south”). It predicts that the nations—or regions—of Libya and Ethiopia will be allied with Iran when it is overrun by the European empire.

Indeed, the modern nation of Libya and the Italian government have already clashed. Back in 2006, in the wake of Islamist riots following the Danish cartoon crisis, Italian cabinet minister Roberto Calderoli called on Pope Benedict xvi to launch a new crusade against Islam. Seif al-Islam al-Qadhafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, responded to this remark by demanding the dismissal of the cabinet minister and an apology to Islam. Otherwise, al-Qadhafi threatened, “Libya, the Arabic world and Islam would be forced to react.” The minister was dismissed in this case, but as terrorist activities increase in Europe, patience is going to run thin.

Southern European interior ministers held a conference with their North African counterparts on May 21 and 22 agreeing to step up the fight against the terrorist threat in the region. As al Qaeda terrorist networks expand, and as local populations become more and more sympathetic to the Islamist cause, however, the time will come when Europe will react with more than just conferences. According to Daniel, this reaction will be blitzkrieg-style warfare.

For more information on the coming clash between Europe and radical Islam, read “Libya Sees the Deadly Holy Roman Empire” and “The Last Crusade.”