Fears of Yemen turning into another Afghanistan [View All]

Source: Washington Post

SAN'A, Yemen -- The cave tucked in the remote Saudi mountains near the Yemeni border was clearly a way station for Islamic militants, Saudi police say, pointing to the stock of guns and ammunition, nooks for holding hostages and cameras for filming them.

It even had buckets of sugar, rice and flour, as well as boxes of charcoal, candles, pasta and beans _ supplies for a long stay by al-Qaida fighters moving across the border to prepare attacks in the kingdom.

The discovery in early April reinforced a growing fear in Saudi Arabia: that Yemen could become another Afghanistan right on its doorstep, an out-of-control state where al-Qaida runs free and exports violence into its neighbor.

The United States shares the Saudis' fear. Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, told Congress in April that the weakness of Yemen's government provides al-Qaida a safe haven and that terror groups could "threaten Yemen's neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states."


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/03/AR2009050301182.html