So al Qaeda specifically as an organization is a non-threat, kinda in the same way that the Mujahadeen is a non-threat, the leadership is non existent, disrupted by the relevant forces (Soviets in the 80s vs the American funded Mujahadeen and the US in the 2000s against al Qaeda) leaving the area a broken mess, never making the locals lives better in any way letting them fester in anger, and opening up a new power vacuum for a new charismatic leader to rally people together and strike back at the giant empires that broke their country, drawing them into another protracted war, repeating the cycle.
So al Qaeda specifically as an organization is a non-threat, kinda in the same way that the Mujahadeen is a non-threat, the leadership is non existent, disrupted by the relevant forces (Soviets in the 80s vs the American funded Mujahadeen and the US in the 2000s against al Qaeda) leaving the area a broken mess, never making the locals lives better in any way letting them fester in anger, and opening up a new power vacuum for a new charismatic leader to rally people together and strike back at the giant empires that broke their country, drawing them into another protracted war, repeating the cycle.