Ali Soufan is a former FBI special agent who for many years was as close to the heart of the US government’s shadow war against Al Qaeda as it’s possible to get.

However what sets him apart is that he was pursuing the top leaders of Al Qaeda, both before and after September 11th.

It’s a perspective that has given him a rare insight into how the organisation founded by Osama bin Laden has persisted and in fact grown many years after its demise and death was announced …