Al-Qaeda and the role of the State

Al-qaeda is an organization that acts among and within states, but it does not have a state of its own which means that it cannot be easily targeted. There are two countries that are known to have harbored Osama Bin Laden and his organization, Sudan and Afghanistan. The Taliban was an Islamic fundamentalist movement which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Al-qaeda was not invited by the Taliban to move into Afghanistan, but over time their relationship grew to the point where the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, chose to protect Bin Laden in Afghanistan. The Taliban however was not recognized internationally as a legitimate government in Afghanistan which means that al-qaeda was not protected by a state. Because al-qaeda is not a state, the United States, in its attempt to destroy the organization, threatens or attacks states, like Iraq, that appear to be supporting it.