Yemen: US allies don’t defeat al-Qaida but pay it to go away

Ataq, Aug 6 : Secret compromises with al-Qaida in Yemen risk strengthening the most dangerous branch of the terror network that carried out the 9/11 attacks, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Rather than fighting or capturing the militants, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition provided al-Qaida safe passage out of a string of cities and towns that it held — letting fighters retreat with their weapons, looted equipment and huge sums of cash, the AP found.

In “capturing” one stronghold after another, not a shot was fired, since vast convoys of militants already had retreated. Some militants were actually paid to withdraw, and hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself — even though it is backed by the United States