That most visible part of the so-called war on terror has played out in Pakistan's remote areas, but some of its key moments – like this one – have occurred in or near the country's teeming cities. Before the death of bin Laden, the biggest U.S. victory after 9/11 was arguably the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, known as KSM, who stands accused of masterminding the attacks on the twin towers in New York.
Like his master, Mr. bin Laden, KSM was tracked down not far from Islamabad, in the adjacent city of Rawalpindi, during a raid by intelligence operatives in 2003.
The Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader became both the face of global terrorism and a symbol of the futile efforts to seek it out and fight it.
While his death is a victory for the anti-terror crusade by the U.S. and its allies, it's unlikely his demise will end the now-fractured network of terror cells that reaches across the world.
Counter-terror experts have noted al-Qaeda has grown into a more fragmented movement, its violent ideas having been franchised over to local allies who can operate without a central, larger-than-life figurehead leader.
“Al-Qaeda is an organization that evolved into an ideology, with Osama bin Laden's message receiving widespread attention in the Muslim world,” said Peter Bergen, one of the rare Western journalists who has met Mr. bin Laden in person.
“Clearly, the ideology will survive Osama bin Laden's death.”
Al-Qaeda has farmed out attacks to regional players in East Africa, Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East, local radical partners it inspired and funded over the years, said Rohan Gunaratna, author of Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror.
“It will be a messy blow to the main al-Qaeda structure but the threat of terrorism will continue.”
At the same time, there are other examples of terrorist groups losing momentum after the capture of their charismatic leader.
After Turkey seized Abdullah Ocalan of the Kurdistan Workers Party, an initial wave of retaliatory attacks eventually petered and his supporters ended their armed campaign. In Peru, the arrest of Abimael Guzman Reymoso of the Shining Path decimated the violent Maoist movement.
Mr. bin Laden reached out to various associated groups, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines, Jemaah Islamiah, elsewhere in southeast Asia, the Salafi Group in Algeria and other insurgents in Indonesia and Yemen. These groups provided not only a striking capacity but also training facilities, filling in for the loss of al-Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan.
“These groups play an equally important role. We are seeing terrorist capability in the regional, local Islamic radical groups,” Mr. Gunaratna said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda has been severely crippled, losing its sanctuary in Afghanistan. Top operational planners have been captured -- such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- or killed, such as Muhammad Atef. More than 3,000 alleged members or supporters have been arrested, many of whom are now languishing in indefinite detention at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The U.S. and its allies have seized massive caches of weapons, handbooks and, more importantly, computers, videotapes and other electronics such as satellite and cellular phones that can be examined to retrace their former owners' activities and whereabouts.
Financial regulators have frozen tens of millions of dollars in assets from individuals and groups alleged to be raising funds for terrorism.
But al-Qaeda's brand of terror hasn't been put out of business. It has been accused of having a hand in everything from deadly 2002 bombings in Bali that left hundreds dead to the recent uprisings in Libya and Yemen to last week's bombing in Marrakesh, which killed 15 people in the usually peaceful country's deadliest attack since 2003.
- with reports from Anna Mehler Paperny, Tu Thanh Ha, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
