New Mideast Turns Away From Terrorism

By MARGARET COKER And YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
WSJ

The U.S. killed Osama bin Laden just as the Saudi fugitive was becoming increasingly irrelevant in the two worlds where he made his name, the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The Arab world is being transformed by pro-democracy uprisings in which al Qaeda has played no role. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban movement that once hosted him as a guest of honor has taken pains to distance itself from al Qaeda's chief.

Bin Laden hadn't been seen since his last video address was released in 2007. He died without commenting on the collapse of U.S.-allied regimes that al Qaeda tried and failed to demolish with violence.

Despite bin Laden's attempts to jump-start a global Islamic revolution with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in the end Afghanistan's ultra-conservative Taliban regime was the only government his movement actually managed to bring down, by sparking a U.S.-led invasion.

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