When Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, Azzam wanted to consolidate control in Afghanistan, transforming it into a base for Islamist activity before turning his attention to Israel. He implored bin Laden to use his money and construction skills to develop their Afghan stronghold. But by this stage, bin Laden was already committed to the Egyptians' strategy of immediate global holy war.

Then, just months after the victory against the Russians, Azzam was killed by a car bomb in Peshawar. The murder was never solved, although former jihadis remember just how bitter the conflict between Azzam and the members of al-Jihad had become. "I believe it was al-Zawahiri, but there's no real proof," Abdullah Anas said. "But even if it wasn't him, he was certainly pleased about it."

A few months after the murder, Anas married Azzam's daughter. A videotape of their wedding reveals a who's who of modern terrorism, with bin Laden and scores of al-Jihad members in attendance. A scrawny innocuous-looking guest sitting alone in a corner is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who would later lead a vicious Sunni insurgency in Iraq, regularly beheading foreign contractors, Shias, and even Sunnis who opposed him until killed by coalition forces in 2006.

In 1990, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia and made common cause with Salman al-Awdah, a cleric who had refused to approve the government's decision to allow Western troops into the Kingdom. This decision had reinforced Zawahiri's message about the corruption of Arab regimes and spawned the culture of indiscriminate bombings which are now a hallmark of al-Qaeda's tactics.