In testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on February 24, 2004, CIA Director George Tenet said: “[P]laces that combine desperate social and economic circumstances with a failure of government to police its own territory can often provide nurturing environments for terrorist groups, and for insurgents and criminals. The failure of governments to control their own territory creates potential power vacuums that open opportunities for those who hate. We count approximately 50 countries that have such ‘stateless zones.’ In half of these, terrorist groups are thriving. Al-Qa’ida and extremists like the Taliban, operating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, are well known examples.”
– CIA, “DCI Testimony: The Worldwide Threat 2004,” (Testimony of George Tenet, Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence), The Central Intelligence Agency’s 9/11 File:, The National Security Archive, Feb. 24, 2004