Al Qaeda has no chance whatsoever of taking over in any country unless it has been totally fucked over first by the great powers (meaning Russia or the USA). Afghanistan had a stable, peaceful, and healthy society under their king for quite a lengthy period in the 20th century until the Russians started mucking around in there politically and then invaded the place. Following that, it's been pure hell for the Afghans ever since. First they got the Russian invasion and the war that followed between the Mujahedin and Russia. Then they got a civil war between various elements in the Mujahedin. Out of that the Taliban eventually won out over the various other factions...but they never managed to take over one part where the Northern Alliance warlords continued to rule, so the fighting continued. Then the USA attacked them in 2001 over a terrorist act that they didn't plan and didn't execute, and that brings us to the present fiasco.

Al Qaeda is a side issue. They're a red herring. They are a small organization with few operatives, and there isn't much left of them at this point, but they continue to serve as a feeble excuse for USA wars in the Middle East. They are the convenient "enemy" that America can't do without. If they didn't exist, the State Department would have to invent them.

Al Qaeda has NEVER gained control of ANY Muslim country. They've never gone beyond being a scattered group of fanatics hiding out in various remote places.

I'm not one bit opposed to the soldiers. I admire their courage under fire, and I feel sorry about the suffering they are exposed to in war. What I oppose is the politicians who send those soldiers to war for reasons that make no sense at all (unless you sell arms and oil).