U.S. says capable of dealing with expanding al Qaeda

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates speaks during a news conference at Malaysia's Defence Ministry in Kuala Lumpur November 9, 2010. The United States has the resources and allies needed to combat al Qaeda as it expands beyond its base in Afghanistan and Pakistan to places like Yemen, Gates said on Tuesday.

Credit: Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad

 (Reuters) - The United States has the resources and allies needed to combat al Qaeda as it expands beyond its base in Afghanistan and Pakistan to places like Yemen, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.

Al Qaeda-affiliates in troubled states like Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere are proving a growing threat to the United States and its allies, nine years after the Sept. 2001 attacks by al Qaeda's central leadership.Reuters) - The United States has the resources and allies needed to combat al Qaeda as it expands beyond its base in Afghanistan and Pakistan to places like Yemen, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.Al Qaeda's Yemen-based branch, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken credit for last month's failed parcel bomb plot against U.S. targets and for an attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger jet last Christmas."As we see an al Qaeda spreading its tentacles in this way, the good news is we have some very strong partners that are working this problem because of their own self-interest," Gates told reporters during a visit to Malaysia."We're not in this fight by ourselves ... So I'm confident that we will have the resources and capability to continue to deal with it." The United States has already ramped up counter-terrorism assistance to Yemen to $155 million in fiscal year 2010, from just $4.6 million in 2006. U.S. officials are also looking at additional ways
to put pressure on militants, including enhanced training of Yemeni forces.