US officials say al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, Farouq al-Qahtani al-Qatari, has several hundred fighters and could plan attacks on the US; officials are concerned that the “zero option” will remove US capability to launch strikes against al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. The US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, retired after three years in the post. Defense lawyers for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, a Kuwaiti son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and and suspected terrorist, asked for clarification that charges against him are not confused with those against Guantánamo detainee Abd al-Rahman Abdu Abu al-Ghayth Sulayman, a Yemeni in his 30s.
