The Death of Osama Bin Laden: Effect on Al-Qaeda (Essay Sample)

Death of Osama bin Laden: Effect on Al-Qaeda
Student’s Name
University Affiliation
Death of Osama bin Laden: Effect on Al-Qaeda
Over three years ago, U.S Navy Seals led a raid into Abbottabad, Pakistan that resulted in the demise of the most notorious terrorist of this lifetime, Osama bin Laden. The American public, as well as the entire world, received Osama bin Laden’s death with more of relief than happiness. Osama bin Laden's death meant that not only did al-Qaeda lose its figurehead, but also experienced a structural change. The demise of Osama bin Laden has negatively affected al-Qaeda.
On May 2, 2011, the terror network commonly referred to as al-Qaeda, lost its leader, Osama bin Laden. Osama’s death happened in a 40 minutes gunfire exchange with his bodyguards and the U.S Special Forces, the Navy Seals (Scheschkewitz, 2012). Al-Qaeda lost its figurehead in terms of operations and symbolism (Andress & McConnell, 2014). Ever since Osama’s death, the threat that al-Qaeda poses has significantly diminished and in reality, it is a shadow of its former existence. It is worth noting that al-Qaeda, in its highest level of existence, is lacking identifiable top leaders. Soon after Osama’s death, al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor considered the brains behind al-Qaeda, took over its leadership. However, he lacks Osama’s charisma (Scheschkewitz, 2012). Osama had a personality that attracted many young people from all over the world. Ayman al-Zawahiri lacks this kind of influence; he has earned respect but not the love (Atwan, 2013).
Ayman al-Zawahiri has created a shift in the terrorist network’s balance of power. Some factions view Ayman al-Zawahiri as the representative of the influential Egyptian side, which is hated by other groups, such as the Maghreb section (McIntosh, 2015). In addition to this, a trusted Osama bin Laden’s aide, Nasir al-Wuhyashi, an emir of the Arabian Peninsula became the network’s general manager. Nasir al-Wuhyashi appointment is the first time a member of a regional affiliate held the network’s leadership, rather than the core leadership of Pakistan and Afghanistan (Scheschkewitz, 2012). Nasir Al-Wuhyashi's appointment signified the death of “Osama’s core leadership” concept, which further reduces the influence that it has among bin Laden’s hard-line supporters (Mastors, 2014).
The volume of United States drone strikes against al-Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan has decentralized its operations. The U.S claims that it has killed about half of the twenty al-Qaeda leaders (Scheschkewitz, 2012). Despite the online message in relation with arming the Libyan rebels, Ayman al-Zawahiri together with his deputy, Yahya al-Libi, have kept a low profile over the past year. The operational oversight that Ayman al-Zawahiri and Yahya al-Libi depict is at its all-time low, which has affected the network’s confidence in operations and sustainability (Mastors, 2014). The connections between al-Qaeda central branch and local branches are tenuous at best, which is far from being an institutionally coherent movement. Thus, al-Qaeda has become a collection of small factions, which has diminishe