Al Qaeda too weak to launch major attacks: Panetta

WASHINGTON (PAN): With its top leaders killed in the last one year, Al Qaeda no longer has the capability to have a command and control structure to launch a major terrorist strike like the 9/11, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said.

The network had no ability to make the kind of plans for as major attacks as 9/11, Panetta said in remarks at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland on Friday.

Panetta said the US had successfully gone after Al Qaeda leadership. However, he emphasised the need to continue mounting pressure on the group.

“We need to keep going after them wherever they go, whether it’s Yemen or Somalia or North Africa. We need to continue the pressure on them.  But we are — we are working to significantly weaken their capability. We’ve been good at it,” he added.

The US had made good progress in Afghanistan, including ongoing security transitioning to Afghan control, the secretary claimed. “We remain committed to making sure that happens.”

myn/mud

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