US close to defeating al-Qaeda: Panetta

Washington, Jul 10 (PTI) The US is within reach of
strategically defeating al-Qaeda following the killing of
Osama bin Laden and is set to go after some other key leaders
of the terror network in Pakistan and Yemen to put "maximum
pressure" on it, new Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said.
"I was convinced in my prior capacity (as CIA chief) and
I'm convinced in this capacity that we're within reach of
strategically defeating al-Qaeda and I'm hoping to be able to
focus on that, working, obviously, with my prior agency as
well," Panetta told reporters en route to Kabul, his first
overseas trip as the Defense Secretary.
"My goals are to defeat al-Qaeda, that obviously we made
an important start with that with getting rid of bin Laden,"
he said, adding he wants to establish sufficient stability in
both Iraq and Afghanistan so that al-Qaeda and its militant
allies do not find a safe haven there.
Panetta said the US is within reach to target top al-
Qaeda leaders.
"Having gotten bin Laden, we've now identified some of
the key leadership within al-Qaeda both in Pakistan as well as
in Yemen and other areas," he said.
"If we can be successful at going after them, I think we
can really undermine their ability to do any kind of planning
to be able to conduct any kind of attack on this country, but
that's why I think it's within reach. Is it going to take some
more work? You bet it is. But I think it's within reach," he
said.
"I'm not going to list all the names that we have, you
know, but we're talking about, at this stage of the game, I
would say somewhere around 10 to 20 key leaders that between
Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, AQIM in North Africa, if we can go
after them I think we really can strategically defeat al-
Qaeda," he said.

PANETTA-QAEDA 2 LAST
"We were at the point as a result of the operations that
we conducted at the CIA as well as the other work that's been
done -- I think we had undermined their ability to conduct
9/11-type attacks. I think we had them on the run," Panetta
said.
"I think now is the moment, following what happened with
bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them because I do
believe that if we continue this effort that we can really
cripple al-Qaeda as a threat to this country," he said.
Panetta said "the interesting thing that we found with
bin Laden is that for a long time the sense was that he was an
inspirational leader, but he wasn't the guy who was managing
operations. And what we found out when we went into that
compound (in Abbottabad where he was hiding) is that in fact
he was someone that was operating on an operational basis. And
we've been able to, obviously, target that capability."
"More of these team leaders like (Anwar a Awlaki,
(Ayman a Zawahiri, and others that we can go after -- the
more we undermine those who have an operational capability to
work with the Haqqanis, to work with TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan), to work with the other militant groups that
threaten our forces and that threaten this country," he said.
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