article_snippet.sent: (CNN)While the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq holds the world's gaze, a simultaneous transformation is getting less attention: the deterioration of Al Qaeda.
article_snippet.sent: Al Qaeda was a Pakistani who acted as The terrorist group's liaison to the Pakistan Taliban and was the deputy commander of Al Qaeda South Asia branch.
article_snippet.sent: al Qaeda's South Asia branch is relatively new, announced with some fanfare back in September by Al Qaeda top leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
article_snippet.sent: The creation of al Qaeda's South Asia branch was seen by some terrorism analysts as an attempt to steal some of the limelight from ISIS, which is embroiled in a public dispute with Al Qaeda for leadership of the global jihad movement.
article_snippet.sent: This is an indicator of how Al Qaeda has become a largely Pakistan-focused group, increasingly able to do nothing of any significance outside of Pakistan or Afghanistan.
article_snippet.sent: Indeed, Al Qaeda has virtually no capacity to carry out attacks in the West.
article_snippet.sent: The last successful Al Qaeda attack in the West was the London transportation system bombings a decade ago.
article_snippet.sent: To be sure, Al Qaeda Yemen-based affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, continues to pose a threat to American aviation.
article_snippet.sent: The group also trained one of the gunmen who attacked the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January, killing 12, but it's not clear if AQAP had any direct role in planning The last successful al Qaeda attack in the West.
article_snippet.sent: Meanwhile, ISIS continues to attract Western recruits and also inspire "homegrown" terrorists in the West, but the core Al Qaeda organization that killed almost 3,000 men, women and children on 9/11 is on life support.
highlights_snippet.sent: The terrorist group's capacity to carry out attacks in the West has been greatly diminished .