Richard Armitage Quotes

The presence of jihadis in Syria should be no surprise.

Staying in a very public fight with the U.S. is exactly what Al Qaeda wants.

ISIS has never fought a real battle.

I've dealt with the Taliban and al Qaeda.

In principle... no government in the world can accept an armed terrorist group, some of them coming from abroad, controlling streets and villages in the name of 'jihad'.

Many of us didn't believe in the image of bin Laden as a wandering Old Man of the Mountains, living on plants and insects in an inhospitable cave somewhere on the porous Pakistan-Afghan border.

For many foreign fighters, the jihad in Iraq and Syria is a commuter war.

The bombers were enemies of Islam and enemies of the country. We will do everything and anything needed to stop them.

There's no question that the main location of Al Qaida is in tribal areas of Pakistan.

More terrorists and extremists have been captured or killed in Pakistan than in any place in the world.

Find Al Quaeda and Kill Them

I think ISIS is achieving the objectives that they have set out to achieve. I think that they feel probably very emboldened. They feel pretty good. Their resiliency is extraordinary.

In the real world, immeasurable hurt is caused by terrorists based in Pakistan who attack countries like India.

Bin Laden studied economics and public administration before he turned to a life of jihad.

ISIS is even at war with its most natural ally, al Qaeda in Syria.

Al Qaeda and ISIS may have global aspirations, but their ability to penetrate a society is strongly influenced by local conditions.

Anytime ISIS takes ground, it's a bad thing.

British intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan swelled the grievances home-grown fanatics fed off, while al Qaeda morphed and re-grouped in lawless sanctuaries from Somalia to Yemen.

Al Qaeda has dominated the battlefield of the soul among the disaffected, disenfranchised, and dissatisfied. It promises action instead of discussion.

Bin Laden was very keen to point out to me that his forces had fought the Americans in Somalia. He also wanted to talk about how many mullahs in Pakistan were putting up posters saying, "We follow bin Laden." He even produced a sort of Kodak set of snapshots of graffiti supporting him.

The Taliban is resilient.

If there is one Osama bin Laden now, there will be 100 bin Ladens afterwards.

And the fact of the matter is there were thousands of people that went through those training camps in Afghanistan. We know they are seeking deadlier weapons - chemical, biological and nuclear weapons if they can get it.

There have been linkages between the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda going back more or less a decade.

Pakistan now is like a horror film franchise. You know, it's 'Friday the 13th, Episode 63: The Terrorist from Pakistan.' And each time we hear of Pakistan it's in that context.