The mujahideen are significant not only because they illustrate yet another instance of the United States’ willingness to encourage Islamism when it suited its larger political goals but also because the foundations of al-Qaeda emerged from the mujahideen resistance to the Soviets. A young businessman from Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden, began assisting the mujahideen in the 1980s. Bin Laden became increasingly involved in the war over the course of the decade, raising funds and recruiting additional fighters. His involvement in the war led him, along with an Egyptian physician named Ayman al-Zawahiri, to create the radical Islamist organization al-Qaeda (“the Base” in Arabic) as a means to organize and finance the Afghan resistance.

DEFINE: Defines al-Qaeda as 'the Base' in Arabic and traces its origins to bin Laden and al-Zawahiri's organizing of the Afghan resistance. Builds on: "The U.S. armed and praised Afghan mujahideen as Cold War allies."

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 257