People across the world think the US-led "war on terror" has not weakened al-Qaeda, and many believe it has actually strengthened Osama bin Laden's network, a poll for the BBC World Service said today.
The poll of almost 24,000 citizens found people in 22 out of 23 countries surveyed thought attempts to counter al-Qaeda since its September 11th, 2001 attacks on the United States had not weakened it.
The predominant view was that neither side was winning, the BBC said.
Kenya - which experienced deadly al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. embassy in 1998 and on an Israeli-owned hotel in 2002 - was the only country where a majority thought al-Qaeda has been weakened.
In the United States, only 34 per cent believed al-Qaeda had been made weaker with 26 percent reckoning the "war on terror" had had no effect and 33 per cent thinking it had made the militants stronger.
The majority US perception was that neither the United States nor al-Qaeda were winning.
More than 40 per cent of citizens in France, Mexico, Italy, Australia and Britain believed the "war on terror" had strengthened the organisation.
Although the majority of people questioned had negative views of al-Qaeda, more citizens in Egypt and Pakistan had mixed or positive views of the group than negative feelings.
Reuters