WASHINGTON — The United States is just as determined to hunt down and kill al-Qaida's new chief as it did his predecessor, Osama bin Laden, Obama administration officials said on Thursday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's longtime second-in-command and now its top leader, does not have the "peculiar charisma" and operational experience of bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. forces last month.But Gates and other U.S. officials said al-Qaida 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.
"We should be mindful that ... al-Qaida seeks to perpetuate itself, seeks to find replacements to those that have been killed and remains committed to the agenda that bin Laden put before them," Gates told reporters.
"So I think he's (al-Zawahri's) got some challenges but I think it's a reminder that they are still out there and we still need to keep after them," he said.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear that al-Zawahri — an Egyptian-born ideologue — remains high on the U.S. list of hunted militants.
"He and his organization still threaten us. And as we did seek to capture and kill — and succeed in killing — bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahri," Mullen told reporters.
Al-Zawahri has taken over the leadership after the killing of bin Laden, the group announced online on Thursday.
"The general leadership of al-Qaida group, after the completion of consultation, announces that Sheikh Dr. Ayman Zawahri, may God give him success, has assumed responsibility for command of the group," the Islamist website Ansar al-Mujahedeen (Followers of the Holy Warriors) said in a statement.
