AP Photo

Around the world, the decade of terror has generated different anniversaries, the latest being the 12 months separating Indians from the Mumbai gun and grenade atrocities. The announcement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 atrocity, and four accomplices are to be tried in New York, also makes this an apt moment to assess the deeper impact of terrorism.

Al-Qaeda's leadership has been either captured or killed, whether during the B-52 strikes on Tora Bora, or by the CIA's Predator drone assassinations along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Although it is claimed that a voice on audio cassettes is that of Osama bin Laden, it is strange that a movement so reliant on the charismatic Saudi has not released any filmic evidence that he is still among the...