In 2004, a GSPC commander named Abdelmalek Droukdal became the group’s emir. That fall, he got in touch with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. The Algerians needed support, Droukdal told him. In return, their organization would become an Al Qaeda franchise, operating under the distant leadership of Osama bin Laden. In 2006, the alliance between the GSPC and Al Qaeda became official.
