On Monday, United States (US) President Joe Biden announced that Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was a key architect behind the infamous 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000, was successfully eliminated in a “precision strike” on an urban safe house in Kabul on Saturday.
In a live televised speech on Monday, Biden asserted, “Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” adding, “We make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
I made a promise to the American people that we’d continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 2, 2022
We have done that. pic.twitter.com/441YZJARMX
He noted that Zawahiri also played a key role in bombing US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania prior to 9/11, killing 224 people and injuring around 4,500 others.
According to an unnamed senior Biden administration official, Washington found out early this year that Zawahiri had relocated to Kabul where his wife, daughter, and grandchildren were staying, and avoided leaving the house. “We were able to build a pattern of life through multiple independent sources of information to inform the operation,” the official revealed.
Tonight’s news is also proof that it’s possible to root out terrorism without being at war in Afghanistan. And I hope it provides a small measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of al-Qaeda.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 2, 2022
In this respect, a United Nations (UN) report revealed last month that Zawahiri had been “confirmed to be alive and communicating freely,” with “regular video messages that provided almost current proof of life.” It pointed out that his “increased comfort and ability to communicate” appeared to match with the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last August after the US withdrew from the country.
The official also admitted that Biden was updated about Zawahiri in May and June, and on July 1, Cabinet members and advisers, including Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, briefed him about the operation in the White House Situation Room.
The world is a better, safer place without the al Qaeda terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri. I am profoundly grateful to the intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who spent decades hunting this terrorist killer. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/QPPOz89jCq
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) August 2, 2022
Once Biden authorised the counter-terrorism mission on July 25, Zawahiri was killed with the help of two Hellfire missiles while he was on the balcony in a CIA-led operation. “We are confident through our intelligence sources and methods, including multiple streams of intelligence, that we killed al-Zawahiri and no other individual,” the official remarked. Another source said it took “a few days” to confirm the killing, since Washington doesn’t “have many assets on the ground.”
Confirming the drone attack on Twitter, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid “strongly” condemned the strike without mentioning Zawahiri’s death, and called it a violation of the Doha Agreement. However, under the Doha Agreement signed in 2020, Washington agreed to leave Afghanistan on the condition that the Taliban not harbour any terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, in the country.
Statement of the spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate regarding the drone attack in Kabul cityhttps://t.co/WWQC4iMo4a pic.twitter.com/hobpGFMiRl
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) August 2, 2022
Keeping this in mind, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed the Taliban for “hosting and sheltering” Zawahiri in Kabul and said it had therefore “grossly violated” the Doha Agreement. “They also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for recognition from and normalisation with the international community,” he further asserted.
In fact, the unnamed White House official told reporters on Monday that there was a “concerted effort to restrict access to the safe house in the surrounding area for hours after the strike,” claiming that the house is now empty.
Also both Washington and Kabul accuse each other of violating the Doha agreement. The US says for housing Ayman, Taliban for another drone strike in a residential area of Kabul in one year
— Ali M Latifi (@alibomaye) August 2, 2022
Following the death of former Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, Zawahiri became the head of the terrorist group in 2011. With his death and a weakened Al Qaeda presence, security experts believe that the current Al Qaeda deputy, Saif al Adel, who was in Iran during the attack, will be the successor. However, according to a former Afghan official, Adel has already left Iran for Afghanistan.
Zawahiri’s death comes six months after American special forces killed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi during a raid in Syria.