Al-Qaeda Chief’s Brother Offers to Broker Peace Deal

10-Year Truce Laid Out in Broad Strokes in Proposal

Mohamed al-Zawahiri, the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, gave an interview to CNN today during which he offered to mediate a peace deal between al-Qaeda and the Western world, saying he is confident of his ability to convince his brother to abandon violence.

The deal as laid out in broad strokes in his proposal for a 10-year truce would see an end to Western intervention in Muslim lands, the release of all Islamist prisoners, and an end to “US interference in Muslim education.”

In return, al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups would stop all attacks on the West and on Western interests worldwide, they would protect Western interests in the Middle East and would “stop provoking the US and the West.”

Zawahiri concedes that the negotiation would be difficult, and admitted that he hasn’t actually talked to his brother Ayman in over a decade. Still, he says he believes if given a chance to mediate he could work out a deal, and was confident that in the end both sides would be willing to scrap violence.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.