Al Qaeda’s statelessness made it an elusive military target

Evidence

As a fluid group with no national borders, al Qaeda was an elusive target. Its adherents quickly fled to Pakistan, where they established sanctuaries and received the unspoken approval of Pakistani intelligence. Bombarding the new sanctuaries would have required targeting Pakistan. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2298

Categorization

• QUESTION: The unspoken-approval claim about Pakistani intelligence is attributed only to the opinion-poll comments context; worth verifying against independent sources.