A man holds a national flag and a newspaper to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden and to commemorate the victims of 9/11 terrorist attacks, at the World Trade Center site in New York, the United States, May 2, 2011. [Xinhua/Wu Jingdan]

There's no escaping the fact that President Barack Obama stands to gain maximum political capital at home and abroad for his ordering of the execution of Osama bin Laden. He's already getting wall-to-wall praise at home; and the operation is seen as guaranteeing him a second term.

Bin Laden's death is definitely a severe psychological blow to the al-Qaida network, which has over the years visited a reign of terror around the world that has cost thousands of lives – from the US embassy bombings in Africa to the bombing of the US Twin Towers to the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

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Osama, world's most wanted, hunted down

The thousands who lost loved ones as a result of al-Qaida attacks are breathing a long sigh of relief, many considering bin Laden's death as justice having finally been done to him.

The "kill mission" by US troops in Pakistan that resulted in bin Laden's execution has sparked a new round in US-Pakistan relations and is sure to fundamentally change how Pakistan's neighbors relate to it in the future.