Who leads al-Qaeda? Group's protracted silence shows deep internal crisis

KABUL -- Who is leading al-Qaeda?

More than two years after the group's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul, al-Qaeda remains conspicuously silent about its leader's death and has yet to officially name a successor.

The group's presumed new leader, Saif al-Adel, is an Egyptian based in Iran.

But senior al-Qaeda members do not recognize his authority and have effectively isolated him in the Islamic Republic, where he is being sheltered by the regime.

This has left a power vacuum inside al-Qaeda that has in turn spawned rivalries, with no dominant figure emerging at the helm.

"Those currently claiming leadership of al-Qaeda are very weak individuals focused on their own interests," Herat-based political analyst Mohammad Amin Zarifi told Salaam Times.

"The network has broken into small, isolated factions across different countries and is unable to make unified decisions."

Al-Qaeda's disarray is so profound it has not been able to perform the basic function of announcing its leader's death or introducing a new one, he said, noting that acute internal divisions are preventing any consensus on succession.

The leadership crisis is a dramatic failure and embarrassment for al-Qaeda.

"Since al-Zawahiri's death, the terrorist group has nearly fallen apart," Herat-based international relations expert Jawad Farzan told Salaam Times.

"Each high-ranking al-Qaeda figure claims leadership, preventing the formation of a unified command."

'Leaderless and rudderless'

The prolonged silence over succession reflects a breakdown of trust among the group's key members, Farzan said.

The internal discord began after Osama bin Laden's death in 2011 but reached its peak following al-Zawahiri's elimination, after years of systematic US and coalition targeting of the group's leaders, according to security experts.

Since al-Zawahiri's death, "the group has become visibly leaderless and rudderless," Nimroz-based political analyst Hamza Baloch told Salaam Times.

"The inability to appoint a universally accepted leader has caused further fragmentation within the group, pushing it toward complete collapse," he said.

"Internal disputes have brought the group to the brink of destruction," Kabul-based political analyst Farhad Pacha told Salaam Times.

"It is much weaker than in previous years and can no longer even manage its own members."

"Al-Qaeda, which once independently executed major attacks, now must work through other groups, having lost both territorial control and operational capacity while consumed by internal conflicts," Pacha said.