Defense secretary of U.S Robert Gates said Zawahiri, Al Qaeda’s long time second in command and now its top leader after Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces last month does not have the “peculiar charisma” and operational experience of bin Laden. He also added that Al Qaeda’s new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri lacks Osama bin Laden’s stature among Islamists worldwide but the United States is just as determined to hunt him down and kill him as it did his predecessor, US officials said on Thursday. Gates said that al Qaeda remains a threat despite its loss of bin Laden, who was considered the driving force behind the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear that Zawahiri remained high on the US list of hunted militants even after commandos killed bin Laden in a raid on his Pakistan hide-out 45 days ago.

Islamist websites on Thursday had announced that Zawahiri has taken over the leadership after the killing of bin Laden. The White House said Zawahiri’s rise had been expected since he had long served as bin Laden’s deputy, but the State Department said it “barely matters” who the new leader was, contending the violent Islamist group’s influence was on the wane. US officials, in a rhetorical campaign that seemed designed to undercut the new al Qaeda leader, also raised doubts about whether Zawahiri had the personality to emulate the unifying role played by bin Laden. Bin Laden was the network’s founding figurehead and became a global symbol of Islamist militancy despised in the West but admired by some in Muslim countries. Zawahiri’s apparently prickly temperament and Egyptian background could make it hard to mediate between the Egyptians who have dominated the upper reaches of the central al Qaeda group and other militants, including nationals of Arab, Asian, African and European countries as well as of the United States, experts say. The administration official said the Zawahiri would also have a hard time leading al Qaeda because he would have to focus “on his own survival.”

Report by Reuben