The hardcore of the group is "essentially gone", US officials said, almost a year after US raid killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, adding that only the remnants survived and these were on the run most of the time looking for cover and apparently in no shape to mount another September 11 attack.
The American officials warned that al-Qaeda's affiliates remain a threat especially the Yemeni offshoot. They said the group had lost its capabilities to carry out complex attacks inside the US, but are still capable of hitting Western targets overseas and are building armies and expertise to plot violence.
"Its really hard to imagine al-Qaeda core gathering to repeat a 9/11 attack," CBS quoted senior US officials as telling the reporters.
"It may be too soon to declare victory," US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said as he claimed that America was safer as a result of bin Laden operation.
US counter-terrorism officials said that hard-pressed al-Qaeda's new leader Zawahiri had not managed to weave together diverse factions within the group into a cohesive force focused on a major catastrophic attack.
Quoting Robert Cardillo, Deputy Director in the office of the Director of National intelligence, CBS said "there was a vigorous debate about local versus global jihadis within the terror group.
US officials said that with the loss of a single charismatic voice, al-Qaeda was riddles with "multiple voices" with various groups aiming for different targets.
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They said that instead of a single cohesive group, al-Qaeda had splintered into various groups with each having its own intent.
The group's key affiliates in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and North Africa may have pledged allegiance to Zawahiri, but remained unimpressed with his leadership.
"He is not offered the deference that they gave to bin Laden," Cardillo said adding that the Egyptian has a reputation of an abrasive manager an was a less charismatic figure. PTI AKD