Osama bin Laden established Al-Qaida in the late 1980s to bring together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet invasion. It helped finance, recruit, transport and train Sunni Islamic extremists for the Afghan resistance. Its current goal is to establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems “non-Islamic” and to expel Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries. In February 1998, Al-Qaida issued a statement under the banner of the “World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders” claiming it was the duty of all Muslims to kill US citizens–civilian or military–and their allies everywhere. Full Story