Cheap Nike Dunk SB HighThe killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is a huge blow to the organisation but as
guest columnist Ahmed Rashid reports, its decentralised nature means it has the potential to carry out attacks on any number of targets.
There have been cheers and jubilation in the US and elsewhere in the West, but capital cities around the world are already bracing for the repercussions of Bin Laden's killing.
Hundreds of dedicated and would-be jihadis will be mourning and swearing to give their lives in revenge for his death at the hands of US special forces in the city of
Abbottabad.
There is little doubt that the death of Bin Laden is a huge blow to al-Qaeda.
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But at the same time the network has moved over the years from a highly centralised hierarchy - with recruiting, training and orders all scrutinised by its top leaders - to
something much more loose and amorphous.
Franchise
Today al-Qaeda's philosophy is one man, one bomb. It does not need another 9/11 to make its mark.
One bomb in Times Square in New York placed by a dedicated suicide bomber or a bomb in a New York subway - both attacks were attempted in in recent years - are big enough
indicators that al-Qaeda is alive and kicking.
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Al-Qaeda has been a franchise for many years.
Anyone can join it by planting a bomb somewhere. Almost anyone can come to Pakistan or Afghanistan and be offered training with key al-Qaeda allies such as the Pakistani Taliban
or the Afghan group headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani.
The facilitator in Pakistan's cities has been Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) - a banned militant group which previously fought in Kashmir but now attacks many different targets and helps
al-Qaeda.
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After 9/11 it helped hide many senior al-Qaeda figures and it may well have played a major role in hiding Bin Laden.
Pakistan has refused to go up against al-Qaeda allies like Haqqani because they were operating in Afghanistan not Pakistan.
Likewise, allies like LeT are close to Pakistan's intelligence services because their main target is Kashmir and India.
Thus the threat is there.
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Before 9/11 there were no known al-Qaeda cells in Europe except for the one in Hamburg which launched those attacks.
Sleeper cells
However, today every single European country has an al-Qaeda cell. Hundreds of Muslims with European passports have travelled to Pakistan's tribal areas for training and
returned to Europe.
Finally al-Qaeda and its allies may find this the right moment to create major divisions between India and Pakistan by launching another Mumbai-style attack on Indian territory.
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This would aim to take the heat off the hunt for al-Qaeda members in Pakistan.
The Middle East also remains a big vacuum for al-Qaeda because of the ongoing Arab revolt.
It is still a prime target for al-Qaeda as it seeks to gain influence and clout among the new generation of leaders who have emerged in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and the Gulf
states. But this task will be much more difficult after Bin Laden's death.
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Clearly Bin Laden's death will give intelligence agencies around the world many clues and leads to catch other leaders, but al-Qaeda will not disappear overnight.
Ahmed Rashid's book, Taliban, was updated and reissued recently on the 10th anniversary of its publication. His latest book is Descent into Chaos - The US and the Disaster in
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
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