US President Joe Biden introduced Monday that al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul, an operation he mentioned delivered justice and hopefully “one more measure of closure” to households of the victims of Sept. 11, 2001 assaults on the United States.
The president mentioned in a night tackle from the White House that US intelligence officers tracked al-Zawahri to a house in downtown Kabul the place he was hiding out together with his household. The president authorised the operation final week and it was carried out Sunday.
Al-Zawahri and the better-known Osama bin Laden plotted the 9/11 assaults that introduced many unusual Americans their first information of al-Qaida. Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, in an operation carried out by US Navy SEALs after a virtually decade-long hunt.
As for Al-Zawahri, Biden mentioned, “He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens.”
“This terrorist leader is no more,” he added.
I made a promise to the American those that we’d proceed to conduct efficient counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and past.
We have executed that. pic.twitter.com/441YZJARMX
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 2, 2022
The operation is a major counterterrorism win for the Biden administration simply 11 months after American troops left the nation after a two-decade warfare. The strike was carried out by the CIA, in keeping with 5 folks accustomed to the matter who spoke on the situation of anonymity. Neither Biden nor the White House detailed the CIA’s involvement within the strike.
Biden, nevertheless, paid tribute to the US intelligence group in his remarks, noting that “thanks to their extraordinary persistence and skill” the operation was a hit.
Al-Zawahri’s loss of life eliminates the determine who greater than anybody formed al-Qaida, first as bin Laden’s deputy since 1998, then as his successor. Together, he and bin Laden turned the jihadi motion’s weapons to focus on the United States, finishing up the deadliest assault ever on American soil — the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.
On Saturday, at my route, the United States efficiently performed an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed the emir of al-Qa’ida: Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Justice has been delivered.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 1, 2022
The home Al-Zawahri was in when he was killed was owned by a prime aide to senior Taliban chief Sirajuddin Haqqani, in keeping with a senior intelligence official. The official additionally added {that a} CIA floor group and aerial reconnaissance performed after the drone strike confirmed al-Zawahri’s loss of life. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on the operation on situation of anonymity mentioned “zero” US personnel had been in Kabul.
How it unfolded
Earlier this yr, US officers realized that the phobia chief’s spouse, daughter and her kids had relocated to a protected home in Kabul, in keeping with the senior administration official who briefed reporters.Officials finally realized al-Zawahri was additionally on the Kabul protected home.
In early April, White House deputy nationwide safety adviser Jon Finer and Biden’s homeland safety adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall had been briefed on this growing intelligence. Soon the intelligence was carried as much as nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan.
The @FBI has now up to date Zawahiri’s entry on the Most Wanted Terrorist record to: “deceased.” pic.twitter.com/FD7j0lPi9v
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 2, 2022
Sullivan introduced the data to Biden as US intelligence officers constructed “a pattern of life through multiple independent sources of information to inform the operation,” the official mentioned. Senior Taliban figures had been conscious of al-Zawahri’s presence in Kabul, in keeping with the official, who added the Taliban authorities was given no forewarning of the operation.
Inside the Biden administration, solely a small group of officers at key companies, in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, had been introduced into the method. Through May and June, Biden was up to date a number of occasions on the rising mound of intelligence that confirmed al-Zawahri was hiding out within the house. Over the previous few weeks, Biden introduced collectively a number of Cabinet officers and key nationwide safety officers to scrutinise the intelligence findings.
On July 1, Biden was briefed within the Situation Room in regards to the deliberate operation, a briefing by which the president intently examined a scale mannequin of the house Zawahri was hiding out in. He gave his remaining approval for the operation on Thursday.
In this 1998 file picture, Ayman al-Zawahri, left, listens throughout a information convention with Osama bin Laden in Khost, Afghanistan. (AP, File)
Al-Zawahri was on the balcony of his hideout on Sunday when two Hellfire missiles had been launched from an unmanned drone, killing him. Al-Zawahri’s household was in one other a part of the home when the operation was carried out, and nobody else was believed to have been killed within the operation, the official mentioned.
“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,” Biden mentioned.
Taliban reacts
An announcement from Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities confirmed the airstrike, however didn’t point out al-Zawahri or every other casualties.
It mentioned the Taliban “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 American forces.
“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan, and the region,” the assertion mentioned.
