The U.S. State Department said on Thursday, in response to the appointment of Ayman al-Zawahiri as al-Qaeda's new leader, that who runs al-Qaeda "barely matters."

 

"What I'd like to say today is frankly it barely matters who runs al-Qaeda," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland at the daily briefing.

 

"Because al-Qaeda is a bankrupt ideology. If you look around the world, the peace movements for change around the world have done far more for Muslim people than al-Qaeda has ever produced," she added.

 

Al-Qaeda announced on Thursday that Ayman al-Zawahri, the Egyptian-born 60-year-old physician, as its new leader to succeed Osama bin Laden, who was killed on May 2 by U.S. special forces in Pakistan.

 

Xinhua/ Editor: yan