Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, was killed by a drone strike in Afghanistan, according to President Joe Biden.
Sunday, he was assassinated during a CIA counterterrorism operation in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Together with Osama bin Laden, he planned the September 11 attacks, and he was one of America’s most wanted terrorists.
Mr. Biden stated that al-Zawahiri had “laid waste to American citizens with murder and bloodshed.”
In a live televised address from the White House, the president stated, “From hiding, he coordinated al-branches Qaeda’s around the world, including setting priorities for providing operational direction and advocating for and inspiring strikes against US targets.
“Now that justice has been served, this terrorist commander no longer exists,” he continued.
The FBI updated their Most Wanted Terrorist poster with “Deceased” for Zawahiri on Monday.
Following Bin Laden’s death in 2011, the 71-year-old Egyptian physician assumed control of al-Qaeda.
After months of planning, Mr. Biden announced he had granted final approval for the “precise strike.”
According to officials, Zawahiri was sitting on the balcony of a safe home, where he frequently spent hours, when the drone fired two missiles at him.
They said that other family members were present, but were unharmed and that only Zawahiri was slain in the attack.
Mr. Biden stated that the death of Zawahiri will bring closure to the relatives of the almost 3,000 victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in which hijackers crashed passenger aircraft into iconic buildings in New York and Washington, including two skyscrapers in Manhattan.
Approximately 344 firefighters also perished. Andrew Ansbro, president of the New York Firefighters Association, commended Vice President Biden for “helping to provide additional closure to everyone affected by these assaults.”
Mr. Biden stated that Zawahiri was also responsible for other violent activities, including the suicide bombing of the USS Cole naval destroyer in Aden in October 2000, which killed 17 US sailors, and the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which resulted in the deaths of 223 people.
Douglas Sidialo, who was blinded in the Kenyan attack, told that while he never approves of violence, the news of Zawahiri’s demise is welcome.
Mr. Sidialo stated, “It’s fantastic that individuals responsible for these atrocious and barbaric acts of cowardice around the world are being brought to justice.”
The early Sunday morning attack in Kabul shook the capital’s core; we heard it on our nearby street.
Since then, rumors have circulated regarding who or what struck this “empty house” in Sherpur, a neighborhood famed for its ostentatious multi-story houses.
Several hours after President Biden proclaimed the assassination of Zawahiri, workers in neighboring buildings informed us that no one resides in the home whose balconies are now covered with plastic sheeting. The Taliban instructed adjacent businesses to close their rooftops.
Sometimes with force, Taliban guards pulled journalists away from the site.
This news is explosive; the streets are calm. It underscores the flaws of the US-Taliban accord for 2020 once more.
Afghanistan, according to the Taliban, will never again be used to launch strikes against the United States. They never committed to severing all ties with organizations such as al-Qaeda, including their longtime comrade-in-arms Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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A Taliban spokesman denounced the US action as a flagrant violation of international law but did not mention Zawahiri by name. US officials insisted that the operation was authorized.
By a peace agreement reached in 2020, the Taliban committed not to permit al-Qaeda or any other extremist organization to operate in territories under their control.
However, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are long-standing partners, and US sources reported that the Taliban were aware of Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul, where he lived openly and freely.
The assassination of Zawahiri occurred roughly a year after Mr. Biden withdrew US forces from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year military presence there and allowing the Taliban to recapture the country by force.
In background briefings, US intelligence agents accused Taliban associates of attempting to conceal proof of Zawahiri’s presence at the safe house following the strike.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the Taliban had “grossly breached” the peace deal by harboring and entertaining Zawahiri in Kabul.
John Sudworth, BBC’s North America Correspondent, notes that the drone strike is the first known US action inside Afghanistan since the military withdrawal in August, and despite the evacuation, the decades-long “war on terror” continues.
A US drone strike days before the departure murdered 10 innocent people in Kabul, including a humanitarian worker and seven children. The United States claimed it was a “catastrophic error” and had intended to target a local offshoot of the so-called Islamic State extremist group.
