Al-Qaeda’s Next Top Terrorist: The jihadist movement after Zawahiri

A recent US drone strike, in the heart of the Afghan capital of Kabul, killed the head of Al-Qaeda. 

Ayman al-Zawahiri had led the group since 2011, following the death of Osama bin Laden, and during that time the jihadist terror organisation underwent a number of significant changes. Some changes were by choice, others were forced upon them. 

This week on The New Arab Voice, we examine what the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri means for Al-Qaeda, and how significant is it that he killed in Kabul. We explore the ties between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and why they remain connected, and how Western counterterrorism efforts could deal with this relationship. 

We also give you the lowdown on who might step up to the big seat and lead Al-Qaeda into the future. 

On this episode, we speak with Javid Ahmed (@ahmadjavid), senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s (@AtlanticCouncil) South Asia Center, and Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister), senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (@MiddleEastInst) and director of Syria (@MEI_Syria) and Counterterrorism (@MEI_CTE) programmes.

This podcast is written and produced by Hugo Goodridge. Theme music by Omar al-Fil. 

Other music by Blue Dot Sessions. 

To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email hugo.goodridge@alaraby.co.uk.