In Fuad Hussein’s book, Al-Zarqawi: The Second al Qaeda Generation, former Egyptian army officer and al Qaeda military commander Sayf al Adel said: ” ‘After God granted the Muslim mujahideen in Afghanistan victory against the Russians [in February 1989] and when disagreements began to emerge among factions of the Afghan mujahideen, many of our Arab brothers were thinking of returning to their native countries, including the Saudis, Yemenis, and Jordanians, who had no problems with the security services in their homeland. On the other hand, we, the Egyptians, and our Syrian, Algerian, and Libyan brothers had no alternative other than to stay in Afghanistan, fight on the frontlines of jihad, or go to safe places where there were no powerful central governments.’ Therefore, we chose Sudan, Somalia, and some underprivileged African countries. Some fraternal brothers had already left to the countries that won independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union while others spread to the four corners of the world.’ ” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know, Pages 120-121