With the U.S. government claiming that Al-Qaeda in Yemen is a bigger threat then its mother in Pakistan, local analysts are lost and astonished at what they hear.
Why is it that Yemen doesn’t think Al-Qaeda is a major threat to Yemen while the U.S. thinks it is?
The Yemeni government announced that the United States is exaggerating the issue of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda followers in Yemen are in the low hundreds and do not exceed 5% of the Al-Qaeda followers in Pakistan or even Saudi Arabia.
Over 80% of Al-Qaeda followers in Yemen were raised or studied in Saudi Arabia. Sources even clarified that Saudi princes paid Al-Qaeda to leave Saudi and head to Yemen. This angered President Saleh and that is why some believe that Saleh forced Saudi to involve itself in the war against Houthis, which in return disgraced the Saudi regime and showed its weakness. This was done in retaliation.
Even with Saudi being a bigger Al-Qaeda threat, we all know the United States can’t rage war against Saudi, who has been tremendously loyal and obedient to Washington over the last three decades.
Is Al-Qaeda in Yemen really a threat to America? Let’s change the question. Is the United States a threat to Yemen? Will the United States be the cause for killing thousands of civilians in Yemen as it did in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq?
In an interview I had with Al-Jazeera earlier, I stated that the United States must understand that its strategy in its war against terror has failed in every country it approached, and that spilling blood will not solve problems. The United States has not won a single war against Al-Qaeda in its short history, only if you think that the 5% of lands the Afghan government controls in Afghanistan is a success in the war on terror.
Founder of the Houthi Movement, Husain Al-Houthi, preached one thing to his followers about Al-Qaeda. He swore that Al-Qaeda was a ghost and did not exist in Yemen only in the eyes of the United States. He said that 12 years ago! It seems to me that he understood that one day the United States will attack many countries for the same reason.

ABOUT Yemen Post Publisher & Chief Editor:

Hakim Almasmari is an American journalist and Middle East expert based in Sana'a, Yemen. His work has appeared for many of the worlds top media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Washington Post, AlJazeera, Fox News, The Guardian, The National, USA Today among numerous others. He has also worked with some of the world’s top organizations. Reporting out of Yemen for nearly eight years, he is the current editor in chief for the Yemen Post. He is a university lecturer in the field of international media and also studied business and law. Considered one of the top experts on Yemen, Almasmari has closely worked with international strategic centers and think tanks helping them better understand Yemen. He is a frequent guest on many international TV outlets discussing current local and international affairs. Almasmari's ancestors are from Yemen, and was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. His mother tongue is English and is fluent in Arabic.