United States President Joe Biden revealed that the military has successfully killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike, marking the latest terrorist leader to fall in the hands of U.S. troops.
The individual, who had just turned 71 years old, had remained a visible international symbol of the group even 11 years after the death of Osama bin Laden. At one point, he also acted as bin Laden's personal physician.
Al-Qaeda Leader Killed
Authorities said that Zawahiri was sheltering in a safe house in Kabul and was killed in a "precise tailored airstrike" using two Hellfire missiles. U.S. forces conducted the drone strike at 9:48 p.m. ET on Saturday and were authorized by Biden following weeks of meetings with his Cabinet and key advisers.
Officials said that no American personnel was on the ground in Kabul near where Zawahiri was at the time of the strike. On Monday, it was revealed that senior Haqqani Taliban figures were aware of Zawahiri's presence in the area, which was a "clear violation of the Doha agreement," as per CNN.
One official said that they even took steps to conceal Zawahiri's presence after Saturday's successful strike, restricting access to the safe house and rapidly relocating members of his family, including his daughter and her children. The latter was intentionally not targeted during the strike and remained unharmed.
Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, was also dealing with a rebound case of the virus while speaking outdoors from the Blue Room Balcony at the White House. In his remarks, he noted that Zawahiri was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11 and was one of the most responsible for the attacks that took the lives of 2,977 people on American soil.
According to Reuters, Zawahiri had a bounty of $25 million prior to the drone strike, with Biden now saying that "justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more." U.S. intelligence determined with "high confidence" that the man killed was Zawahiri.
Terrorist Groups
American officials said that Zawahiri continued to pose an active threat to U.S. persons, interests, and national security. They added that his death dealt a significant blow to al-Qaeda and will degrade the group's ability to operate.
In recent years, many rumors in recent years said that Zawahiri was already dead, while others noted that he was in poor health. The terror leader's death raises questions about whether or not Zawahiri received sanctuary from the Taliban following their takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
The incident comes nearly a year after the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, removing all military troops from the region. The withdrawal devolved into a chaotic situation and one of Biden's worst stretches as president, as the U.S. was forced to carry out a major evacuation of more than 100,000 people trying to flee the country after an astonishingly quick takeover by Taliban militants, Politico reported.
The United States has also insisted that the Taliban group now allow Afghan soil to be used by terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. The killing of Zawahiri also gives the Biden administration some good news to trumpet ahead of a grim anniversary.
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