Smith is an Arabic speaker who moved to Cairo after 9/11 determined to find out what motivated the al-Qaeda attackers.

VOA: standard.2010.03.18

We charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and made good progress in taking the fight to al-Qaeda across the globe."

VOA: standard.2010.02.06

The audio recording,posted on the on an Islamic website, includes a undated photograph of the al-Qaeda leader.

VOA: standard.2009.09.14

The Taliban had given safe haven to al-Qaeda, which had carried out the hijacking of four airliners to attack New York and Washington, in which more than 3,000 people died.

VOA: standard.2009.09.14

"There was,after 2001, a change of approach, a form of mission creep, whereby we took on far more priorities than simply security and removing al-Qaeda and the Taliban as their host,".

VOA: standard.2009.08.02

The latest audio recording, attributed to Bin Laden, again attempts to justify al-Qaeda's September 11,2001, terror attack on the United States as being part of the group's quest for the liberation of Palestine.

VOA: standard.2009.09.14

And as a consequence of its own autocracy, the battle against terrorism and the efforts to confront the local affiliates of al Qaeda have been undermined by a regime that is seen as remote and repressive."

VOA: standard.2010.05.19