Britain’s defence chief, General Sir David Richards, warned on Sunday that the West will never defeat Al Qaeda, but added that the threat posed by the terrorist group could be contained.
“Make no mistake, the global threat from Al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates is an enduring one and one which, if we let it, will rear its head in states, particularly those that are unstable. The national security of the UK and our allies is, in my judgment, at stake — that is why we are engaged in a global struggle against a pernicious form of ideologically distorted form of Islamic fundamentalism,” General Sir David Richards, the newly-appointed chief of defence staff, told the Sunday Telegraph in an interview on Remembrance Sunday. The Al Qaeda threat currently comes from nations like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, Sir David said, but added that it was unlikely to remain so.