State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki while briefing newsmen in Washington Tuesday said that the US has made a great deal of success against al Qaeda core in Afghanistan and Pakistan and we have taken a number of steps to really decimate that group’s leadership, including, of course, most importantly, Osama bin Laden.
The focus, however, had shifted to the Middle East “where first on that list is always al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, she added.
Psaki said the State Department had also ordered a reduction in the number of emergency US government personnel in Yemen.
“We are concerned about a threat stream indicating the potential for terrorist attacks against US persons or facilities overseas, especially emanating from the Arabian Peninsula,” she said.