Terrorism after bin Laden

Two propositions: first, whatever its short-term consequences, the killing of Osama bin Laden will neither significantly hasten nor significantly delay the decline of al-Qa’eda. That is happening anyway. Secondly, however slowly or rapidly AQ declines, it will not significantly affect the global level of terrorism. We’re stuck with it anyway. But it’s manageable.

Two propositions: first, whatever its short-term consequences, the killing of Osama bin Laden will neither significantly hasten nor significantly delay the decline of al-Qa’eda. That is happening anyway. Secondly, however slowly or rapidly AQ declines, it will not significantly affect the global level of terrorism. We’re stuck with it anyway. But it’s manageable.

AQ began as a database recording the names of foreign fighters killed in 1980s Afghanistan. The term may have originated with Abdullah Assam’s 1987 call for al-Qa’eda al-sulbah (a vanguard of the strong) but it became widespread only when the FBI gave it legal status while investigating the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.