The
Times of India while quoting
the United States (US) Counterterrorism
officials on June 9, reported that
the death of al Qaeda's ‘Deputy
leader’, Abu Yahya al-Libi on June
4, 2012 is likely to accelerate
a shift in power from the group's
dwindling leadership in Pakistan
to its increasingly autonomous franchises,
particularly the branch in Yemen,
whose focus on attacking American
interests is sure to continue. American
counterterrorism officials said
Libi had played a pivotal role as
the organization's theological traffic
cop, enforcing a unified message
and ensuring that younger fighters
in the affiliates did not go off
the rails.
For
now, Ayman al-Zawahri, Qaeda's nominal
leader, still holds the broad influence
that he has consolidated since Osama
bin Laden's death on May1-2, 2011.
But the hierarchical structure of
global jihad may be loosening
a bit. Libi's death in a drone strike
has torn at the connective tissue
between the group's embattled leadership
in Pakistan and its far-flung affiliates
across the Middle East and Africa.
Libi's killing may even augur increased
violence as younger, more impetuous
fighters vie to seize mantle of
global leadership, said analysts.
Osama Bin Laden himself, in the
documents that US navy SEALs recovered
from his house in Abbottabad, worried
about "the rise of lower leaders
who are not as experienced and this
would lead to the repeat of mistakes." |
