Is al-Qaeda on the run?

„In the battle against al-Qaeda, we may be taking our shoes off in airports for some time. There may never be a moment when we can be sure that someone, somewhere isn't plotting to blow up our planes and trains. But are we at a point where we can collectively pause and quietly dare to say that we are winning? That al-Qaeda's demise is a matter of time? There is good reason to say yes.

For Osama bin Laden was not the only terrorist leader to be »taken down« or »brought to justice« – as American counter-terrorist officials like to say – in the past few weeks. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the mastermind of the network's first devastating attacks, on the US east African embassies in 1998, was shot at an army checkpoint in Somalia on June 12. Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior operative in Pakistan, is believed to have been killed by a drone in South Waziristan.

The death of bin Laden has allowed the Obama administration to quietly boast of previous successes against his cadre in Pakistan's tribal areas. We now know that unmanned flying killing machines have over the past 18 months eliminated 20 out of the top 30 al-Qaeda members identified by US intelligence agencies.”