New dawn in war on terror

His death, after having escaped the clutches of US secret agents for so long following the seismic attack on America’s liberty, and the West’s enduring democratic freedoms, prompted an emotional night and day of muted celebrations on the site of Ground Zero in New York, and outside the White House, as sporadic chants of “USA, USA” broke out.

This was understandable; bin Laden’s passing offers some comfort to those families, on both sides of the Atlantic, who have lost loved ones at al-Qaida’s merciless hands – and to the grieving relatives of service personnel killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars that followed the world-changing events of September 11, 2001.

However, this also needs to be a time for quiet remembrance, sober reflection and utmost vigilance. For, despite the media clamour and American patriotism witnessed yesterday, bin Laden has been a peripheral figure for years – and this has not stopped al-Qaida from instigating several attacks and plots because of its perversion of Islam ideology.

As long as there are jihadists prepared to sacrifice their lives in suicide bombings – so painfully illustrated by the July 7 explosions in London that were co-ordinated here in West Yorkshire – the threat to the West remains profound.

In short, yesterday’s milestone does not represent a time for complacency, but for even greater co-operation between global security services.

However, it is difficult to command confidence in this painstaking process when the backdrop to bin Laden’s capture is considered.

He was not cornered in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, his assumed location, but at an opulent $1m mansion in a city at the heart of Pakistan’s military establishment – and less than 50 miles from the capital Islamabad.

The clues were also significant – an ultra-modern building with elaborate security but no television or internet access, according to intelligence reports, as well as occupiers who physically burned every item of waste and rubbish.

Yet, for up to six years, no one in the garrison town of Abbottabad, one of the most secure in Pakistan and comparable to Sandhurst, thought that this was an odd occurrence – reinforcing the belief that elements within Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency remain sympathetic to militant Islamism, aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan and also helping insurgents in Kashmir as part of their country’s regional rivalry with India.

Given this, it is understandable that America acted alone late on Sunday night, and kept the Pakistani authorities in the dark until the mission’s conclusion. President Obama, frankly, had little alternative after indicating that US operatives had secretly been on the terrorist’s trail since August.

Likewise, the US had few choices about the disposal of bin Laden’s body at sea – despite the misgivings of some. It was probably unrealistic to have expected him to be captured alive before standing trial in America or The Hague. Would a lengthy judicial process have achieved anything tangible that could have outweighed the colossal security considerations and costs?

Instead, it is crucial that the US and Britain, together with their allies, re-examine Pakistan’s role at the crucible of global terror, and forcing President Asif Ali Zardari to recognise that foreign aid also means certain obligations on his country’s part – and that means doing even more to root out those extremists associated with al-Qaida.

The removal of bin Laden is unlikely to make this process any easier, even more so with the West complicit in nurturing a period of democratic transition throughout the Arab world – and President Obama facing pressure to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan before his re-election campaign next year.

Again, it is crucial that security considerations are put before political interests. Haste will only create dangerous voids that will be exploited. And, while the West’s presence and influence in the Middle East has clearly inspired jihadists, democratic change is the future of this region – as Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday – and that this will only be brought about if the terrorists are finally defeated.

As such, Osama bin Laden’s deathis not the end of the war on terror, but merwely the closure of one chapter – and the beginning of a new period of uncertainty in a region pivotal to the West’s security.