The Local and Global Jihad of al-Qa‘ida in the Islamic Maghrib

Al-Qa‘ida in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM) was founded in 2007 as the latest offshoot of the global jihad. But it is deeply rooted in a long and complex history of Algerian violence, with the “Afghan” volunteers in the 1980s, the civil war raging in the 1990s, and the more recent crisis of the jihadi networks. Despite all its global rhetoric, AQIM has not fully transcended its local dynamics, between its Kabylia strongholds and its Saharan groups.