WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is viewing the CIA operation that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri as a monumental blow to the global terrorist network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. But there’s a flip side.
The drone strike also highlights mounting evidence that after 20 years of American military presence – and then an abrupt exit – Afghanistan has once again become a hotbed for Islamic terrorist groups looking to attack the West.
The operation, carried out over the weekend after at least six months spent monitoring the movements of al-Zawahri and his family, came just weeks before one year since the chaotic US withdrawal from the country.
The Biden administration says the operation shows Americans at home and allies abroad that the United States has not lost its focus — or the ability to strike terrorists in the region — and reaffirms its decision to end two decades of fighting in Afghanistan with his withdrawal.
Announcing the crackdown from the White House, President Joe Biden said Monday night that “justice” had been served to a leader who in recent weeks had recorded videos urging his followers to attack the United States and allies. And the White House on Tuesday described the operation as a huge victory in the fight against terrorism.
“The president kept his word when we left,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on NBC’s “Today” show. “After 20 years of war to keep this country safe, he said we will be able to continue targeting and killing terrorists in Afghanistan without troops on the ground.”
But as details of the operation continue to emerge, the administration has also revealed troubling evidence of al Qaeda’s presence and that the Taliban are once again offering sanctuary to the group behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
White House officials believe senior members of the Haqqani network, an Islamist terrorist group with strong ties to the Taliban, knew al-Zawahri was in Kabul. Sullivan said that while al-Zawahri was not involved in the day-to-day planning at the time of his assassination, he continued to play an active role in running al-Qaeda and posed a “serious threat” to the United States and American citizens.
On Tuesday, the State Department updated its Global Alert, warning US citizens traveling abroad that “there is an increased potential for anti-American violence given the death of Ayman al-Zawahri.”
Concerns about al Qaeda’s efforts to regroup in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan are hardly new.
Before the strike, US military officials, including General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said al Qaeda was trying to re-establish itself in Afghanistan, where it faced limited threats from the now-ruling Taliban. Military leaders have warned that the group still seeks to attack the US
Al Qaeda’s leadership has reportedly played an advisory role since the Taliban returned to power in the run-up to the US withdrawal, according to a UN Security Council report last month.
The U.N. report also noted that ISIS-K — the group that carried out a massive attack that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and dozens of Afghans near Kabul International Airport just days before the U.S. completed its withdrawal last year — has become increasingly active in northern and eastern Afghanistan. This is a concern for the West, although ISIS-K and the Taliban maintain different ideologies and interests, with ISIS-K waging a bloody insurgency against the Taliban and religious minorities in Afghanistan.
“Zawahri’s presence in Afghanistan after the withdrawal suggests that, as they fear, the Taliban are once again harboring al Qaeda leaders, a group with which it has never broken,” said Nathan Sayles, ambassador for special duties and counterterrorism coordinator. during the Trump administration, who is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Frank McKenzie, the retired Marine general who until earlier this year was the top U.S. military officer in the Middle East, said the U.S. has noticed al Qaeda’s efforts to rebuild training camps in Afghanistan.
“I don’t see anything happening in Afghanistan now that suggests to me that the Taliban are determined to prevent that,” he said in an interview.
After the withdrawal of American troops, US military leaders said that America’s ability to monitor and strike a target inside the country would be difficult, but not impossible.
The strike against Zawahri proved both, said McKenzie, who is now executive director of the Institute for Global and National Security at the University of South Florida.
But he cautioned against drawing general conclusions from this drone strike.
“It was a unique circumstance,” he said. “You have a target that isn’t moving, and they had the opportunity to get a good look at the life pattern. This will not always be the case. In fact, this is usually not the case.
The fact that al-Zawahri lived in a Kabul neighborhood, rather than in rural Afghanistan as previously believed, “tells you that he felt really comfortable” under the protection of the Taliban, said Colin Clark, director of research at The Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security firm.
“These entities work hand in hand,” Clark said of the Taliban and al Qaeda.
The Taliban had promised in the 2020 Doha Agreement on the terms of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that they would not harbor al-Qaeda members or those seeking to attack the US
The Taliban were quick to condemn the US strike as “a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement”, although they did not admit that al-Zawahri had been killed. The US did not alert the Taliban government, which the United States does not recognize as carrying out the operation.
“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experience of the last 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan and the region,” the Taliban said in a statement.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on how or whether the United States would hold the Taliban responsible for al-Zawahri’s hiding.
“The Taliban now have a choice,” Kirby said. “And that is that they can comply with their agreement under the Doha agreement … or they can choose to go down a different path. And if they take a different path, it will lead to consequences not only from the US, but also from the international community.
Kirby said the US had already contacted the Taliban about al-Zawahri’s presence after Sunday’s strike.
The Taliban remain sanctioned by the US government for their role in harboring al Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks. After the fall of the US-backed government in Kabul last summer, the Biden administration froze billions of dollars in assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank to prevent the assets from falling under Taliban control. Some of that money has since been released for humanitarian aid to deal with the country’s severe hunger crisis.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was quick to congratulate Biden on the operation, but also said it “further shows that Afghanistan is once again becoming a major hotbed of terrorist activity following the president’s decision to withdraw American forces.”
“The killing of al-Zawahri is a success, but the hidden resurgence of al-Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan is a growing threat that was predictable and avoidable,” McConnell said. “The administration needs a comprehensive plan to rebuild our capacity to fight it.”
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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed.
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