US officials envisage 'strategic end' of al Qaeda

Al Qaeda’s subsidiary in Yemen is now considered as a greater counterterrorism challenge than its traditional base.

KARACHI: US counterterrorism officials believe that the May 2 killing of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the continuous CIA drone strikes have pushed al Qaeda on the verge of a collapse, a Washington Post report said on Wednesday.

CIA holds the view – which once seemed far-fetched – that they are only a few whips away from bringing the Pakistan-based al Qaeda down.

The officials believe that the killing of al Qaeda was a major turning point of the war against terror in the region because he was the strongest link that held the al Qaeda network together and working.

US officials said that even al Qaeda’s downfall would not end the terrorist threat that looms across the globe, which has been fueled by radicals and aggressive affiliates. The al Qaeda’s subsidiary in Yemen is now considered as a greater counterterrorism challenge for US than its traditional base.

US President Barrack Obama has progressively expanded the clandestine campaign against the al Qaeda’s Yemen offshoot. Recently, the US president approved the construction of a covert Persian Gulf airfield for launching CIA drones, but it has a few setbacks to recover that are underscored by a botched US military airstrike on the American-born fundamental cleric Anwar al Aulaqi.

Nevertheless, the US officials adamantly consider the killing of bin Laden as a ‘potential finish line’ in the fight against al Qaeda, which was reflected through US Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, during his visit to Afghanistan earlier, proclaimed that US is within the reach of ‘strategically defeating’ al Qaeda.

However, his remark was understated by skeptics as an attempt to boost the morale of US troops, fighting a decade-old war and which is at the brink of an end.