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| India-Pakistan |
| As Al Qaeda Loses a Leader, Its Power Shifts From Pakistan |
| 2012-06-08 |
| The death this week of Al QaedaÂ’s deputy leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, is likely to accelerate a shift in power from the groupÂ’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, according to United States counterterrorism officials. Mr. Libi had played a pivotal role as the organizationÂ’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, Al QaedaÂ’s nominal leader, still holds the broad influence that he has consolidated since Osama bin LadenÂ’s death last year. But the hierarchical structure of global jihad may be loosening a bit. Mr. LibiÂ’s death in a drone strike has torn at the connective tissue between the groupÂ’s embattled leadership in Pakistan and its far-flung affiliates across the Middle East and Africa. |
| Posted by:tipper |