LA POPULARIDAD de al-Qaeda es cada vez menor entre quienes deberían ser sus 'seguidores naturales'. Y es que la inmensa mayoría de las víctimas del grupo asesino son los propios musulmanes, y eso acaba pasando factura incluso en entornos fanáticamente ideologizados.

The criticism apparently has grown serious enough that Al Qaeda's chief strategist, Ayman Zawahiri, felt compelled to solicit online questions. He responded in an audio message released this month. For more than 90 minutes, Bin Laden's second-in-command tried to defuse the anger.

In March, Zawahiri released a 188-page Internet book to rebut complaints, particularly those of an influential former Islamic militant who said Zawahiri and Bin Laden should be held accountable for violence against Muslims.

Sayyed Imam Sharif, an Egyptian physician who once was a senior theologian for Al Qaeda, was one of Zawahiri's oldest associates. The author of violent manifestoes over the last two decades, Sharif did an about-face while incarcerated in Egypt. Several other prominent Muslim clerics and former militants have similarly condemned Al Qaeda.

Such rifts have been emerging for several years, but they have become increasingly contentious lately, in cyberspace and on the streets of some Arab countries. In addition to Zawahiri, Al Qaeda leaders, including Bin Laden himself, have gone on a public relations offensive. In October, Bin Laden asked followers for forgiveness for the deaths of civilians in Iraq.

Como dice el artículo, no está claro si se trata de un problema real para al-Qaeda o es sobre todo una cuestión de relaciones públicas, por llamarlo de algún modo. Pero en todo caso es una buena señal.