Washington, DC -- A year after the U-S raid that killed Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda is hobbled and hunted. Officials say it's too busy surviving to carry out another Sept. 11-style attack on U.S. soil.
But the terrorist network dreams of payback, and US counterterrorist officials warn that, in time, its offshoots may deliver.
A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has forced al-Qaeda's affiliates to regroup, from Yemen to Iraq. And bin Laden's No. 2 man is thought to be hiding in Pakistan's mountains.
Seth Jones, an analyst and adviser to US special operations forces, calls it "wishful thinking" to say al-Qaeda is on the brink of defeat.
Officials say new al-Qaeda branches are hitting Western targets and US allies overseas, and still aspire to match their parent organization's 9/11 milestone.
AP