Almotamar.net, Saba - Presidential Political advisor Abdul-Karim al-Eryani has said that U.S.-Yemeni critic Anwar al-Awlaki was radicalized in the United States.

"I can say with confidence that he [al-Awlaki] was not at all radicalized in Yemen. He was radicalized in the United States", al-Eryani said in an interview conducted by the US-based PBS TV.

The Yemeni official made clear that his country currently faces several challenges "the first challenge is economic, particularly extreme poverty in Yemen, the second challenge is no doubt security, and the third challenge is conflict in certain parts of Yemen. So here we are with three challenges at the same time. But I'm always optimistic".

The following is the interview.

[PBS]: The big question for everybody is whether Yemen becomes a failed state and therefore a haven for Al Qaeda.

[Al-Eryani]: I have always disputed my even colleagues who talk about a failed state. Yemen had been a state for the last 3,000 years at least. Therefore statehood in Yemen is a legacy, it's a culture in the minds of the people. When the state becomes weak, traditional rules and regulations take over. I doubt that Yemen at any time would become a failed state. But becomes fragile, weak, the system -- the regime becomes weak that allows certain undesirable individuals to seek Yemen as a haven. Yemen is not really a safe haven for let's say Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They are always under pressure. They are always not allowed to settle and become, let's say, a community by themselves. However, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula takes Yemen today before it was Saudi Arabia. Now it's Yemen. Of course, Yemen has minimal resources to actually eradicate Al Qaeda. We defend on a lot on cooperation and the neighboring Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia.

[PBS]: How strong is Al Qaeda?

[Al-Eryani]: I will say Al Qaeda in Yemen is not very strong. I would guess -- or that's what security people think -- between 500 to 700 people. But they live in remote areas and under some tribal protection. At the same time, they have been a danger mainly to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Al Qaeda in recent years has not been able to actually carry out an operation. The worst and the most dangerous was last Christmas, Abdulmutallab.

[PBS]: The Detroit bomber.

[Al-Eryani]: Yes, the Detroit bomber. And he was in Yemen. He was here -- Arabic. Then when he left Yemen he stopped in several stations in Africa until he came to the United States. Now the theory is that he was equipped in Yemen. But unless otherwise I don't have approved that the only place he could have been equipped was Yemen.

[PBS]: What impact do drones have?

[Al-Eryani]: The drones have been a mixed impact. The impact has been mixed. First of all, unfortunately, drones sometimes bomb civilians and Al Qaeda makes a good use of that.

[PBS]: They use that to recruit new members.

[Al-Eryani]: Very much, yes, I believe so.

[PBS]: So should the United States use drones in your judgment?

[Al-Eryani]: Very carefully and with sufficient grand information and coordination with Yemeni authorities. Recently there has been a misfortune, a mistake of bombing within of the supporters of the government against Al Qaeda by mistake or by error. You can call it human error, I don`t know.

[PBS]: Many people think the issue here is how do you create strong governance in Yemen that will be able to be stable and defend itself against whatever terrorist activities there might be.

[Al-Eryani]: That is absolutely true. But strong governance a priority before that is economic development, fighting poverty. Yemen is one of the poorest countries or the second-poorest country in the Arab world after, let's say, Mauritania. Maybe we are equal. If you allow me to give you some statistics, the official food security strategy published by the FAO, WFB, and government of Yemen, puts 6.8 million people food insecure in Yemen. That's 31 percent of the population. Of that number, 6.8 million, 2.5 million people are extremely food insufficient. Now, food insecure insecurity is measured by living with less than $2 a day. Extremely food insecure, that means living with less than a dollar a day. And therefore with such a large number I think overemphasizing the security cooperation between Yemen and the United States and Yemen and all its friends, European Union, its neighbors, I think to overemphasize security without concentrating on not necessarily eradicating poverty, but alleviating poverty, I think that will not be success to feel fight terrorism.

[PBS]: Tell me what you know about Anwar al-Awlaki.

[Al-Eryani]: Well, to tell you the truth, I was instrumental when I was the president of Sinai University to bring his father from New Mexico in 1976 to Yemen. I was a professor of Sinai University. His father is a wonderful man. The boy, I think, was just very little boy. He was raised in Yemen.

[PBS]: Born in New Mexico and raised in Yemen.

[Al-Eryani]: Yes.

[PBS]: That makes him an American citizen.

[Al-Eryani]: And he`s an American citizen. And then he traveled to the United States to study, and I can say with confidence that he was not at all radicalized in Yemen. He was radicalized in the United States.

[PBS]: How did that happen?

[AL-ERYANI]: How? Through -- I don't know -- radical groups living in the United States. Anwar al-Awlaki is not really that important in Yemen. He's important through the Internet. He has no great following in Yemen. He's not very well known. Now the mass media has served him well, I think, Arab and international mass media. He has become known, especially when it was decided that he could be targeted. And that was not very popular in Yemen.

[PBS]: They put a number on his head, did they not?

[Al-Eryani]: Exactly.

[PBS]: What is it, $25 million, how much was it?

[Al-Eryani]: I really don't know.

[PBS]: But here the United States seems to think he`s a huge threat, do they not?

[Al-Eryani]: He is a huge threat as an instigator, but not as a planner and executer of terrorism.

[PBS]: In other words, he does not have the kind of resources that Al Qaeda does to carry out whatever he might want to do arising from his hatred of, say, the United States.

[Al-Eryani]: I think he is coordinating much with Al Qaeda. I don`t think he works in vacuum or by himself.

[PBS]: And where is he?

[Al-Eryani]: He is in the mountain range east of Sana'a, east of Marib. Of course, the geography is difficult from your viewers. But it's a range of mountains al-Awlaki. That's why he's called al-Awlaki because he's from the al-Awlaki mountain, and he belongs to the al-Awlak tribe.

[PBS]: So he is beyond capture?

[Al-Eryani]: I wouldn't say he is beyond capture, but he is well protected, but not beyond capture.

[PBS]: Well, can the government capture him?

[Al-Eryani]: It will require ground troop to do it, and that's very dangerous. The tribe itself is well-armed. All Yemeni tribes are well armed.

[PBS]: But is it politically feasible?

[Al-Eryani]: Politically, I think so.

[PBS]: In other words, would the president --

[Al-Eryani]: I don't think it would be mass revolution if he is captured.

[PBS]: It would not be?

[Al-Eryani]: No.

[PBS]: So the president could order this to happen if he felt like it could be successful.

[Al-Eryani]: If he does I'm sure he will. And there has been an official statement that an attempt upon capturing him. But there has never been an agreement to assassinate him. The government is totally against that.

[PBS]: You know, back to my question about safe haven and your own clear love of your country and making sure we understand the history and the culture of Yemen, you know that there are many people who write that it might be the next hotbed of terrorism.

[Al-Eryani]: I take issue with that. The number is very small. Public sympathy is -- frankly, public sympathy is temporary whenever an action takes place. But Al Qaeda does not have wide popular base, definitely not.

[PBS]: Is the government a friend of the United States?

[Al-Eryani]: Absolutely. We have good cooperation with the United States, with the European Union. We have security agreement with all Arab countries and many other countries.

[PBS]: In the security area, clearly we understand the humanitarian need for food and assistance and shelter. But in the security area, what should the rest of the world do?

[Al-Eryani]: In the security area I think should emphasize training, equipping, and human intelligence.

[PBS]: But my impression is --

[Al-Eryani]: Human intelligence has made mistakes with these cameras and so on.

[PBS]: They've made mistakes?

[Al-Eryani]: Yes.

[PBS]: You're smiling. What kind of mistakes have they made?

[Al-Eryani]: Well …

[PBS]: When they kill the wrong people?

[Al-Eryani]: When they kill the wrong people.

[PBS]: Take me to a sense of what you think might happen in -- ought to happen in Yemen over the next 12 months.

[Al-Eryani]: I am not very pessimistic, but I think Yemen is in for some difficulties until the next election in 2011, April 2011. If - - you watch -- if we have successful democratic open and fair and free Yemen will be probably out of the blue out of the darkness.

[PBS]: And so what's necessary to have --

[Al-Eryani]: I think a national dialogue, which is a subject of interest to the United States, to the European Union, to Yemen's friends, or so called friends of Yemen, the national dialogue, and I think the best thing is a government of national unity.

[PBS]: Thank you for coming.

[Al-Eryani]: Thank you very much for taking me.

[PBS]: It's a pleasure to have you on the program.

[Al-Eryani]: Thank you.