Md. Taqi Yasir
Five years after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani compound, more groups of violent Islamic extremists threaten global security than at any time in history. Terrorist attacks stretching from Paris and Brussels to Istanbul and the skies over the Sinai Peninsula speak to the virulent reach of ISIS, while intelligence officials and analysts say al Qaeda affiliates are poised for resurgence in the coming year and may pose the greater long-term danger. President Barack Obama spoke about the raid that killed the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks that it was a terrifying experience and the blueprint was well executed. Bin Laden’s death in 2011, nearly a decade after his al Qaeda organization launched the attacks of September 11, 2001, sent an unmistakable message that the U.S. will wreak vengeance on those who attack it, no matter how long it takes or how far it has to go. Obama’s administration has pointed to the raid as evidence that despite his wariness of foreign engagement, the President isn’t loathe to act forcefully in American interests and has dealt a drastic blow to al Qaeda and global terror. Obama has come under a rain of criticism, particularly from Republican presidential candidates, that he lacks an aggressive anti-terror and foreign policy.
He often responds by telling critics that if they doubt his commitment to act, they should “ask Osama bin Laden.” Osama Bin Laden pointed for the whole seal of tragic diversity to make the equation. However, cutting off the head of the snake did little to address deep problems of corruption, repression and sectarianism in the countries where these terror groups take root and spread, according to government officials and analysts. They point to an arc of jihadism that stretches today from Western Africa to the Middle East through to Asia.