US apparently killed al-Qaeda chief in CIA operation

Joe Biden

The US President in the White House in the evening.

(Photo: Bloomberg)

Washington The leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, Aiman ​​al-Zawahiri, has been killed in a US anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. US President Joe Biden announced on Monday evening (local time) that Al-Sawahiri had died in a targeted attack in the Afghan capital Kabul over the weekend. According to the US government, it was a drone attack in which only the al-Qaeda boss died. There were no civilian casualties.

Egyptian Al-Zawahiri succeeded Osama bin Laden, who was thought to be the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011. Now the Americans also eliminated his successor – in Afghanistan, a year after the chaotic withdrawal of troops from the country.

Biden himself commented on the attack on the terrorist group during a short-term appearance at the White House in Washington – in a speech on a balcony at government headquarters. The President is currently in isolation due to an infection with the corona virus.

Al-Zawahiri was bin Laden’s deputy at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks and rose to the top after his death, Biden said. For decades, Al-Sawahiri was the mastermind behind attacks on Americans and played a key role in various terrorist attacks. “Now justice has been done. And that terrorist leader no longer exists.”

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A senior US official said the attack on al-Zawahiri had been in preparation for months. He was finally killed when he stepped onto the balcony of his shelter in Kabul. None of al-Zawahiri’s family members who were with him in the house were injured. She emphasized that no US forces were in Kabul during the operation.

$25 million bounty

According to US information, members of the Taliban leadership knew that the al-Qaeda boss was in the Afghan capital, the government official said. You would have clearly violated agreements with the United States.

Al-Sawahiri made his last public appearance last September – exactly 20 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In a video message he called on his supporters to fight the states in the West and their allies in the Middle East. In previous years, there had been unconfirmed rumors of his death. His exact whereabouts were unknown.

There was also speculation about his state of health. Media reported in 2019, citing intelligence information, that Sawahiri was suffering from heart problems. His death came as a surprise. The United States had put a $25 million bounty on his head. Experts recently suspected that Al-Sawahiri was hiding in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Almost a year ago, at the end of August 2021, the USA withdrew all troops from Afghanistan, ending international military operations in the country after almost 20 years. The Taliban had recently taken power in Kabul. The international withdrawal was made more difficult by their rapid campaign of conquest and turned out to be chaotic. All in all, the American withdrawal from Afghanistan met with a great deal of criticism and incomprehension internationally. Biden, who was under pressure because of the debacle, had pledged at the time not to give up the fight against terrorism in the region.

The US President now sees Zawahiri’s death as proof that it is possible to protect America from terrorists even without thousands of soldiers on Afghan soil. The strike against al-Zawahiri is also a message to others: “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you are hiding, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and eliminate you.”

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