Right hand man likely successor
Source: Agencies |
May 3, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR years, Osama bin Laden's charisma kept al-Qaida's ranks filled with zealous recruits. But it was the strategic thinking and the organizational skills of his Egyptian right hand man that kept the terror network together after the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and pushed al-Qaida out.
With Bin Laden killed, 59-year-old Ayman al-Zawahri becomes the top candidate for the world's top terror job.
It's too early to tell how exactly al-Qaida would change with its founder and supreme mentor gone, but the group under al-Zawahri would likely be further radicalized, unleashing a new wave of attacks to avenge bin Laden's killing by US troops in Pakistan yesterday.
Al-Zawahri's extremist views and his readiness to use deadly violence are beyond doubt. In a 2001 treatise, "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner," he set down the strategy for the jihadi movement - to inflict "as many casualties as possible" on the Americans, while trying to establish control in a nation as a base "to launch the battle to restore the holy caliphate" of Islamic rule across the Muslim world.
Unlike bin Laden, who found his Jihadist calling as an adult, al-Zawahri's activism began when he was in his mid-teens, establishing his first secret cell of high school students to oppose the Egyptian government of then President Anwar Sadat, whom he viewed as an infidel.
The doors of jihad opened for him when, as a young doctor, he first travelled to Afghanistan to treat Islamic fighters battling Soviet forces. His 1980 trip opened his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. The bond between al-Zawahri and bin Laden began in the late 1980s, when al-Zawahri reportedly treated the Saudi millionaire-turned-jihadist in the caves of Afghanistan.
"Al-Zawahri was always bin Laden's mentor, bin Laden always looked up to him," says terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, when the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan demolished al-Qaida's safe haven, Al-Zawahri ensured al-Qaida's survival, rebuilding its leadership in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
He became the new face of al-Qaida, churning out videos and audiotapes while bin Laden faded from public view for long stretches.
With Bin Laden killed, 59-year-old Ayman al-Zawahri becomes the top candidate for the world's top terror job.
It's too early to tell how exactly al-Qaida would change with its founder and supreme mentor gone, but the group under al-Zawahri would likely be further radicalized, unleashing a new wave of attacks to avenge bin Laden's killing by US troops in Pakistan yesterday.
Al-Zawahri's extremist views and his readiness to use deadly violence are beyond doubt. In a 2001 treatise, "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner," he set down the strategy for the jihadi movement - to inflict "as many casualties as possible" on the Americans, while trying to establish control in a nation as a base "to launch the battle to restore the holy caliphate" of Islamic rule across the Muslim world.
Unlike bin Laden, who found his Jihadist calling as an adult, al-Zawahri's activism began when he was in his mid-teens, establishing his first secret cell of high school students to oppose the Egyptian government of then President Anwar Sadat, whom he viewed as an infidel.
The doors of jihad opened for him when, as a young doctor, he first travelled to Afghanistan to treat Islamic fighters battling Soviet forces. His 1980 trip opened his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. The bond between al-Zawahri and bin Laden began in the late 1980s, when al-Zawahri reportedly treated the Saudi millionaire-turned-jihadist in the caves of Afghanistan.
"Al-Zawahri was always bin Laden's mentor, bin Laden always looked up to him," says terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, when the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan demolished al-Qaida's safe haven, Al-Zawahri ensured al-Qaida's survival, rebuilding its leadership in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
He became the new face of al-Qaida, churning out videos and audiotapes while bin Laden faded from public view for long stretches.
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