Introduction
Part 1 of the second edition of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet (Knights 2) appeared on the jihadi forums in late November 2010. Zawahiri wrote the first edition of Knights (Knights 1) during a time of "worrying circumstances and changing conditions." Taliban-sanctioned safe havens were disintegrating around al-Qaeda’s leadership. Members were left, in the words of one militant, “moving between safe houses and hideouts...” The book surfaced in the midst of this “maelstrom” in December 2001.
The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat serialized excerpts of Knights 1 in December 2001. According to its editors (December 2, 2001):
The book was smuggled by an Egyptian fundamentalist called "A.S." who is a close aide of Al- Zawahiri out of an Afghan cave in the Kandahar region to the border city of Peshawar and then to London.
I’m skeptical of this account. In the succeeding years militant media networks produced numerous stories of escape and evasion from the US invasion of Afghanistan, and though some mention cave complex here or there, few senior leaders appear to have had extended stays in caves, let alone the amount of time needed to write such a lengthy book. Zawahiri offers a different account:
In fact, the first edition has been subject to distortion and elimination of some parts by the Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, which grasped it from the US intelligence. The US intelligence got the first edition from my laptop in Afghanistan and tried to hide the complete version of the text.
His account suggests that the Al-Sharq al-Awsat edition came from one of his own laptops. How did they obtain it? Could it be the same laptop inadvertently acquired by journalist Alan Cullison in liberated Kabul? I’ve been unable to substantially connect the release of Knights 1 to Cullison’s laptop. Still, provenance is important in this case, because there are so many and fundamental differences between Knights 1 (as we know it) and Knights 2. It becomes impossible to gain clear, accurate insights into the changes in Zawahiri’s thinking over time without a full and complete comparison of both texts.
Since the release of Part 1 of Knights 2, Usama bin Laden was killed in the Abbottabad, Pakistan raid, and Zawahiri is now al-Qaeda’s emir. In retrospect, the book closes out a decade of struggle on both sides. Perhaps Zawahiri originally intended the second edition to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. Perhaps he thought it was just time to readdress the unanswered questions surrounding Knights 1. Only he can explain his motivations.
Zawahiri has been the strategic mind behind many West-centered plots uncovered since 9/11, and has dedicated innumerable hours to establishing the foundations of al-Qaeda’s movement at strategic locations in Africa, Europe, and Central Asia. He's 60 years old now. A smart man, wise with years, and no doubt hardened from personal loss, physical hardships, and many years subduing his own ambitions for the greater movement. Knights 2 offers the first hints of what al-Qaeda's movement will be under his leadership.
