 It's been 10 years since the killing of al-Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden in a U.S. special forces raid in Pakistan. And now his successor, Aiman Azawahiri, has been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan. Where does this leave al-Qaeda and what is the future of this organization? This is the latest. The terrorist organization that bin Laden left behind for Aiman Azawahiri was a weakening organization. It was under a lot of pressure due to internal political problems. It was also struggling from the pressure of American drone strikes. And initially, Zawahiri struggled as well. The pressure from U.S. drone strikes continued against the organization. And some of the critical affiliates of this organization, he struggled to control them, reign them in. And the lowest point for al-Qaeda was the defection of its affiliate in Iraq, which went on to become ISIS, a vicious competitor that tried to poach from al-Qaeda in different parts of the world. But after that, it appears that Zawahiri was able to stabilize his global terrorist network. In fact, in many places, he was able to consolidate and expand in particular in Africa. And perhaps his most significant achievement as a terrorist mastermind was that he was able to preserve the group's historic strategic relationship with the Taliban and shield it up to the point of his death, which is signified by the fact that he was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan. He also continued to pose a major threat to the United States, its interests, as well as regional security in different parts of the world. The big question or challenge facing al-Qaeda is who will succeed Aiman as Zawahiri? And from what we know about al-Qaeda, it has a line of succession. And there are two people in particular who are seen by experts as well as policymakers as potential candidates most likely to succeed Aiman as Zawahiri. One of them is Saif al-Adil. He is an old al-Qaeda operative, used to be with bin Laden in Afghanistan. And post-911 has spent a lot of time in Iran. So he said to be in contention. And another person by the name of Abdul Rahman al-Maghribi, who was related to Aiman as Zawahiri, he said to also be in the running for al-Qaeda's top job. Irrespective of who succeeds Aiman as Zawahiri, the next leader will face first and foremost the challenge of establishing control over this global terrorist network which exists in different parts of the world from Somalia to West Africa to the Middle East and then parts of South Asia. And it's an open question if the new leader can fully take control of this rather complicated organization. There are two views emerging from this strike against Aiman as Zawahiri in Kabul, Afghanistan. One view is that the United States government has a powerful capability which it can use to find, locate high-value terrorist leaders target like Aiman as Zawahiri in denied places where it doesn't have a diplomatic mission or approximate military base such as Afghanistan. So that's good news. It means that the United States government can respond to threats as they begin to metastasize in difficult to access places. On the other hand, another reality that has emerged is that the Taliban remain very committed to al-Qaeda. They still want to support this group and organization provided with a sanctuary and perhaps a safe haven in Afghanistan. And so that is a troubling development and any future U.S. counterterrorism policy has to take into account the fact that dangerous terror groups like al-Qaeda can have a safe haven in Afghanistan from where they might be able to threaten U.S. interests both in the region and beyond.