Engaging Al Qaeda? Armed Groups, Information and Coercion

States are the primary political entities challenged by armed groups. States become legitimate in part by being able to maintain political stability within a given territory. If a state cannot effectively police its internal borders and prevent threats from armed groups, it loses legitimacy. States therefore normally seek to suppress armed groups within their territory. Some states will succeed in these efforts, others will fail. It is only when they fail that they will consider engaging armed groups politically. Notwithstanding the overthrow of the Taliban regime and the expulsion of Al Qaeda from its base in Afghanistan, five years on the United States ’ war against Al Qaeda has reached a stalemate. Osama bin Laden remains at large, Al Qaeda has not been defeated, and there is growing speculation that the organization possibly cannot be defeated, at least in the near term. Opposition to the United States and support for Al Qaeda have both increased over the past several years. Moreover, Al Qaeda has learned how to disperse and survive in response to US military pressures, and it is arguably a more formidable adversary, and harder to annihilate, than in the past. The stalemate against Al Qaeda has prompted two types of responses. The first deplores th