A US drone strike in Afghanistan this weekend killed Ayman al-Zawahri, who assumed leadership of al-Qaida after the death of Osama bin Laden in an airstrike in 2011, President Joe Biden confirmed on Monday, 11 months after US troops left the country after two – decade war.
“Justice has been served and this terrorist leader is gone,” Biden, who is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 again, said in an evening address from the balcony of the White House’s Blue Room.
“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 bring you out.
Current and former officials began hearing Sunday afternoon that al-Zawahri had been killed in a drone strike, but the administration delayed releasing the information until his death was confirmed, according to one person.
Sounding somewhat hoarse and congested, Biden described al-Zawahri as bin Laden’s No. 2 man during the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The president said al-Zawahri was a “mastermind” who was deeply involved in 9/11. as well as the bombing of the battleship USS Cole and the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Biden spoke from the balcony of the White House Blue Room, where he is in isolation with COVID-19. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)
The house al-Zawahri was in when he was killed in Kabul, where he was hiding with his family, was owned by a senior aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior intelligence official. The official also added that a CIA ground team and aerial reconnaissance conducted after the drone strike confirmed al-Zawahri’s death.
The US president approved the operation last week and it was carried out on Sunday.
Bin Laden’s deputy formed Al Qaeda
Al-Zawahri’s death eliminates the figure who shaped al-Qaeda more than any other, first as bin Laden’s deputy from 1998, then as his successor.
Together, the two turned the guns of the jihadist movement on the United States, carrying out the 9/11 terrorist attacks—the deadliest ever on American soil.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon made bin Laden enemy No. 1 in the United States, but he probably never could have carried them out without his deputy, who brought the tactics and organizational skills needed to forge fighters into a network of cells in countries the world.
The bond between the two was forged in the late 1980s when al-Zawahri treated the Saudi millionaire in the caves of Afghanistan while Soviet bombing shook the mountains around them.
Al-Zawahri, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list, had a US reward of $25 million for any information leading to his killing or capture.
Osama bin Laden, left, is seen with al-Zawahri in November 2001. Biden described al-Zawahri as bin Laden’s No. 2 and one of the “masterminds” of the 9/11 attack on the United States. (Hamid Mir/Daily Dawn/Reuters)
Al Zawahri was a long-time associate of Bin Laden
Photos from the time of the 9/11 attacks often show the bespectacled Egyptian doctor sitting next to bin Laden. Al-Zawahri aligned his group of Egyptian fighters with bin Laden’s al-Qaeda in the 1990s.
Al Zawahri speaks in this image taken from a video released in April 2006. He assumed leadership of al Qaeda after bin Laden’s death in a US raid in 2011. (Reuters)
“A strong contingent of Egyptians applied organizational know-how, financial expertise, and military experience to wage a violent jihad against leaders the militants saw as un-Islamic and their patrons, especially the United States,” Stephen A. Cook wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations last year.
Speaking on August 31, 2021, after the last US troops left Afghanistan, Biden said the US would not give up its fight against terrorism in that country or elsewhere.
“We will continue the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries,” he said. “We just don’t have to fight a land war to do it.”
Reviewing the strike that would come 11 months later, Biden said at the time: “We have what’s called over-the-horizon capability, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground — or very few, if necessary. “
WATCH | The US marks the end of the war in Afghanistan:
The US marks the end of the war in Afghanistan
US President Joe Biden marked the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan by defending the decision to leave, while critics expressed concern about a power vacuum that could allow other terrorist organizations to take hold.
There have been rumors of al-Zawahri’s death for several years. But in April, a video emerged of the al Qaeda leader praising an Indian Muslim woman who defied a ban on wearing the hijab, or headscarf. This shot was the first evidence in months that he was still alive.
A statement from the Taliban government in Afghanistan confirmed the airstrike but did not mention al-Zawahri or other casualties.
It said it “strongly condemns this attack and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement”, the 2020 US pact with the Taliban that led to the withdrawal of US forces.
“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experience of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan and the region,” the statement said.
Al-Zawahri, left, and bin Laden, center, are seen in Afghanistan in May 1998. Sources told the AP on Monday that the drone strike in Afghanistan was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency this weekend. (Getty Images)
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