Telegraph:
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"Yemen is standing on the edge of a precipice," a western source familiar with Yemen said. "The rule of law has almost totally collapsed and AQAP can manoeuvre with unimpeded and unprecedented freedom. The current risk is as high as it could be."
Senior US officials have already described AQAP as "the most significant threat to the US homeland" after it was linked to two attacks on domestic American targets, including an attempt by a would-be bomber to bring down an airline over Detroit on Christmas Day, 2009 with explosives concealed in his underpants.
Until this year, Mr Saleh was seen as a useful if mercurial ally against AQAP who allowed the United States to launch aerial and missile attacks on the group's bases in some of the country's most lawless corners.
But the president is increasingly viewed as a liability, whose refusal to bow to the demands of hundreds of thousands on the streets of Yemen's cities has only allowed AQAP to gather strength.
As the army has turned in on itself, dividing into pro- and anti-Saleh factions, AQAP has used the security vacuum to launch brazen raids on ammunitions and weapons stores.
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Whenever there is chaos it provides opportunities for al Qaeda. What we sometimes fail to understand is that the chaos provides opportunities for the Us too. We need to devote more resources to finding and destroying al Qaeda's command and control operations within Yemen. This will require more drones with Hellfire missiles and more special ops to help locate the enemy.
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