Al-Qaeda free to tighten its grip on Africa The forthcoming withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan is based on the assumption that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the original casus belli for military intervention, has been dismantled and no longer threatens our security. It is, of course, entirely feasible that the remnants of the organisation currently being run by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced bin Laden as al-Qaeda's leader in May 2011, might be able to regroup once Nato's Afghan mission is over, especially if, as seems likely, no political settlement with the Taliban is forthcoming by the time our troops pack up and return home at the end of 2014. The trend started with al-Qaeda cells appearing in countries such as Yemen and Somalia, both failed states racked by civil war, where a new generation of Islamist militants were free to pursue their terrorist agenda. While the Somali-based cells mainly confined their activities to attacking diplomatic missions and tourist sites in East Africa, the Yemen-based groups, under the leadership of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-educated radical cleric, were more ambitious, devising ingenious devices for bombing the American mainland, with deadly explosives hidden in the underwear of suicide bombers or concealed in printer ink cartridges. The situation deteriorated further when units of well-armed Islamist mercenaries, equipped with weapons looted from Libya during the collapse of Gaddafi's regime last summer, helped the Tuaregs to establish their own state in the north before seizing control of the region for themselves in a series of attacks against the main towns. The final Tuareg stronghold fell yesterday, when al-Qaeda fighters drove the separatists from their last remaining base in Ansogo, in northern Mali, leaving the terrorist group in control of an area larger than France. As if to demonstrate their resolve to abide by strict religious dogma, the al-Qaeda fighters have vandalised ancient treasures at the World Heritage site at Timbuktu, where they destroyed two mausoleums on the grounds that they contained idolatrous images. If this wanton act of desecration evokes memories of the destruction of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban on similar grounds in Afghanistan in March 2001, al-Qaeda's takeover of this enormous desert tract potentially constitutes a far greater threat to our long-term security than bin Laden's ramshackle training camps did a decade ago. Having captured six fully equipped counter-terrorism units that were originally donated by the CIA to the Malian forces to help their campaign against the Islamist militants, al-Qaeda fighters now have 87 new Land Cruisers equipped with satellite phones and the latest navigation equipment. Even more alarming is the fact that they also have control over a network of airports, military bases, arms dumps and training camps, from which they can orchestrate their campaign of violence throughout the African continent and beyond. Britain's Special Forces were given their own taste of the fanaticism of this new breed of Islamist militants last March when they tried to rescue British hostage Chris McManus, who was killed in a gun battle when a Special Boat Service squadron attacked the kidnappers" hideout in northern Nigeria. The emergence of Mali as a major terror hub should be seen as the inevitable consequence of the profound political changes in North Africa. In Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the wave of anti-government protests has resulted in the replacement of corrupt dictatorships with regimes of differing Islamist persuasions. While all of them say they have no interest in adopting the type of uncompromising, fundamentalist agenda advocated by al-Qaeda and its sympathisers, the fact that Islamists now control the state security apparatus in these countries means that they are unlikely to be as rigorous in repressing terror cells as their predecessors. The changing dynamics of the region are most evident in the Sinai peninsula, where there has recently been a marked relaxation in Egypt's security measures. These were rigorously enforced during the Mubarak regime, to prevent arms being supplied to Hamas militants in Gaza, many of whom are veterans of al-Qaeda training camps. As in Mali, al-Qaeda can operate freely in the knowledge that its activities will not be disrupted by a call from the local security forces - with all the chilling implications that will have for our own safety.