WASHINGTON ― The death of Atiyah Abd al - Rahman in an Aug . 22 drone attack in Pakistan may appear to be just another in the revolving - door fatalities among al - Qaida ’ s operations chiefs . But it was a crucial blow to the core group that once surrounded Osama bin Laden . Atiyah , as he was known to analysts , was bin Laden ’ s channel to the world . Their correspondence was the most important prize taken from bin Laden ’ s compound when he was killed May 2 . They talked about everything : strategy , personnel , operations , political setbacks . Whatever thread still held al - Qaida together passed from bin Laden through to Atiyah . The Libyan - born Atiyah ’ s death blunts al - Qaida ’ s ability to stage a new mega - attack against America ; it brings the top leadership of the group closer to extinction ; and it increases the likelihood that the organization ’ s center of gravity will shift from Pakistan ’ s tribal areas to one of the affiliates , such as the robust al - Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula , based in Yemen . Asked recently to name the most important remaining leader in al - Qaida , a senior U . S . official had said it was Atiyah . He explained that the nominal successor to bin Laden , Ayman al - Zawahiri , was actually a secondary figure ― more a leader of the group ’ s Egyptian wing than of al - Qaida as a whole . It would be in America ’ s interest if Zawahiri rather than Atiyah were dominant , this official said , because Zawahiri was a divisive figure whose ad - hoc tactics were less threatening to America . One of the subjects discussed frequently between Atiyah and bin Laden was whether al - Qaida ’ s ferociously violent tactics were alienating Muslims in the countries where it operated . That led to a fascinating 2005 missive from Atiyah to Abu Musab al - Zarqawi , the head of al - Qaida in Iraq , chiding him for targeting Shiite Muslims in his scorched - earth campaign in Iraq against America and its allies . And in more recent years , the two discussed the danger of seeking an Islamic “ caliphate ” in areas where al - Qaida appeared strong , since that extremist move would likely alienate other Muslims . Better , they reasoned , to keep assaulting America . Atiyah ’ s death is especially important as the 10 th anniversary of the Sept . 11 , 2001 , attacks on the United States approaches ― and not just for symbolic reasons . Bin Laden had been working with Atiyah to plan a spectacular strike against a U . S . target , pegged to the 9 / 11 anniversary . It ’ s not clear how far that planning had progressed , but whatever its level , it will be hampered , maybe even disrupted , by the death of the man whom bin Laden charged with organizing the details of the plot . It ’ s not clear how the CIA was able to target Atiyah in the Aug . 22 attack over North Waziristan , or how he had been maintaining his sanctuary there . The cache of material taken from the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad last May didn ’ t include much that would help pinpoint the location of operatives in the field , according to the senior U . S . official , and Atiyah would have understood that anything that disclosed his whereabouts had been compromised . But on targeting and other operational details , U . S . officials are tight - lipped . Atiyah fell to a Predator drone attack , the weapon that he and bin Laden had complained about so bitterly in their correspondence . Atiyah had told his boss that this U . S . “ intelligence war , ” as bin Laden had called it , had made it nearly impossible for al - Qaida to move , communicate , recruit or train in the tribal areas of Pakistan . They had discussed whether al - Qaida should move its headquarters to someplace safer . That relocation seems more likely , now that the man who anchored the group ’ s presence in Pakistan is dead . By David Ignatius David Ignatius ’ e - mail address is davidignatius @ washpost . com . ― Ed . ( Washington Post Writers Group )