Weapons can trim the nails of al-Qaeda in Yemen but will not end it. War against al-Qaeda in Yemen is not only with tanks, aircraft and soldiers. What will end al-Qaeda presence in Yemen are the development projects. People resort to the religious extremist groups, within other reasons, when signs of hope disappear.
Al-Qaeda elements are easily attracted from an environment that is already prepared for revenging from the bad conditions of the absence of law and development weakness. The serious development is the most strong weapon with which the Yemenis can face the risks of violence, extremism and terrorism.
That is why it is for the good of the Gulf countries to invest in Yemen so as to facilitate getting rid of the risks of al-Qaeda. When people are preoccupied with their daily interests in farms, factories or any other profitable work, they will have no time to listen to al-Zwahri speeches or al-Qaeda promises.
I hope that those who are concerned with fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen, should reconsider their strategies and study very well the development conditions in Yemen.
Development is the key for solving many of the Yemeni crisis, foremost of them al-Qaeda presence. However development is not a word or a sentence that is uttered in a public occasion.
It is a huge integrated system of real projects, that starts with the infrastructures, including the development of education, roads and health.
Yemen today contains thousands of labor force that can, through rehabilitation and training, be a factor for construction and prosperity in Yemen, instead of being, due to despair and deprivation, ticking bombs in the hands of al-Qaeda and other violent groups in Yemen and the region.
Development is the best weapon for defeating al-Qaeda. It is the strong bridge that can strengthen the Gulf relations with the Yemeni people. It is the main guarantee for closing the door in the face of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which competes al-Qaeda in exploiting the Yemenis' hard conditions in order to establish new sedition stations that they seek to spread in the Arab world.