Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was frustrated with the terrorist group's affiliates around the world and what he saw as their botched operations, according to a military analysis of unclassified documents found in the raid on his compound last year, DPA reported.
A report by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point said Thursday: "Rather than a source of strength, bin Laden was burdened by what he viewed as the incompetence of the 'affiliates,' including their lack of political acumen to win public support, their media campaigns and their poorly planned operations which resulted in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Muslims."
The analysis comes alongside the release of 175 pages of original, declassified Arabic-language documents taken in the raid in which bin Laden was killed.
The documents include letters from bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders from September 2006 through April 2011.
"I plan to release a statement (announcing) that we are starting a new phase to correct (the mistakes) we made; in doing so, we shall reclaim, God willing, the trust of a large segment of those who lost their trust in the jihadis," bin Laden wrote in one of the letters.
He expressed concerns about affiliations' operations in countries such as Yemen and Iraq that resulted in the deaths of Muslim civilians and could damage al-Qaeda's repution.
The documents show that he wanted to focus on new attacks on the United States, including efforts to assassinate President Barack Obama and General David Petraeus.
They provide just a glimpse into bin Laden's thinking and that of other al-Qaeda leaders as the vast majority of the documents remain classified.
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