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Al-Qaida was established by Osama bin Laden in 1988 to expand the resistance movement against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan into a pan-Islamic resistance movement. It evolved from an organization referred to as the Makhtab al-Khidamat (MAK), which initially helped to finance, recruit, and train mujahedeen for the Afghan resistance against the Soviets during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. This organization was funded partly by Osama bin Laden himself, but also by donations from many sources in Islamic countries and the US Government. al-Qaida is thought currently to have several thousand members. Although "al-Qaida" is the name of the organization used in popular culture, the organization does not use the name to formally refer to itself. The name al-Qaida was coined by the United States government based on the name of a computer file of bin Laden's that listed the names of contacts he had made at the MAK, which talks about the organization as the "Qaida-al-Jihad" - the base of the jihad. The mili...
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