Osama bin Laden's death put al-Qaeda in irreversible decline

The killing of Osama bin Laden has plunged al-Qaeda’s core leadership into a decline it will be hard to reverse, according to an American intelligence report

The report included statistics showing that the overall number of terrorist attacks worldwide fell to 10,283 last year from 11,641 in 2010 

In its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, the State Department described 2011 as a “landmark year”, with the deaths of Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group’s deputy leader and Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior figure of its affiliate in Yemen, among other high-profile casualties.

It warned however that affiliates in Yemen and West Africa pose a growing threat to the West.

“As al-Qaeda’s core has gotten weaker, we have seen the rise of affiliated groups around the world. Among these al-Qaeda affiliates, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) represents a particularly serious threat,” it said.

“At year’s end, AQAP had taken control of territory in southern Yemen and was exploiting unrest in that country to advance plots against regional and Western interests.”

Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, also said the Arab Spring had also undermined al-Qaeda’s ideology.

“We saw millions of citizens throughout the Middle East advance peaceful public demands for change without any reference to al Qaeda's incendiary world view,” he said.
The report included statistics showing that the overall number of terrorist attacks worldwide fell to 10,283 last year from 11,641 in 2010.
However, in Pakistan’s tribal regions, long a haven for al-Qaeda’s core, the report said the group had forged close alliances with the Pakistan Taliban and the Haqqani network.
“These alliances have at times provided the group with additional resources and capabilities,” it said.
Islamabad has been under intense American pressure to take action against the Haqqani network, which many in Washington believe is backed by elements of Pakistan’s security services.
The group has been responsible for some of the most spectacular attacks on international forces across the border in Afghanistan, including the September assault on the US embassy and Nato compound in Kabul.
The report was released on the same day as the diplomat nominated to be America’s next ambassador to Pakistan said that getting Islamabad to crack down on the Haqqani network would be his “most urgent” responsibility.
“This will be a primary focus of my activities and diplomatic engagement with Pakistanis, to encourage further measures against the Haqqani network, further squeezing of the Haqqani network,” said Richard Olson during his Senate confirmation hearing.