Killing al-Qaeda No. 1, 71-year-old Ayman al-Zawahr in a predator drone attack Sunday, July 13, in the post Sherpur district of Kabul, where warlords and key members of the Taliban live, stunned the Taliban. CIA officials completed its surgical mission without a hitch. Unlike the death of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden May 2, 2011, Sunday’s extra-judicial assassination went flawlessly, with any mishaps, unlike what happened for Navy Seal Team 6 in Abbottabad, Pakistan that killed Bin Laden. Hitting Zawahri on his balcony required precise intelligence of months, knowing his exact whereabouts after eluding U.S. officials since Bin Laden’s death. Hit by a hellfire missiles at 6.18 AM local time in Kabul, the CIA figure out how al-Zawahri spent his time, leaving the exact coordinates and time to complete the attack. No collateral damage occurred from the hellfire missile strike.
President Joe Biden took to the airwaves Monday afternoon to share the successful military operation against one of the key Sept. 11 masterminds, who, together with Bin Laden, plotted the worst attack in U.S. history. Al-Zawahri was also involved in the 1998 attack the killed hundreds on U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, among the first recognition that Osama bin Landen was on a rampage against the United States. Less that two years later, Bin Laden and al-Zawahri struck the U.S.S. Cole Oct. 12, 2000 in the Port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors. Bin Lade and al-Zawahri were partners in crime, menacing U.S. targets, before conducting the whopper of terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, destroying the World Trade Center Twin Towers, damaging the Pentagon and taking down United Flight 93 in Shanskville, PA, all told killing nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens.
Killing al-Zawahri was long over due, though he was essentially retired from any active terrorists activities. “Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” said 79-year-old President Joe Biden yesterday. “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,” said Biden, in a scripted message. Killing al-Zawhahri was largely symbolic because he was no longer an active threat to U.S. interests, despite playing a integral role in several past attacks, including Sept. 11, “There were no casualties as the house was empty,” said Abdul Nafi Takor, the Taliban Spokesman. Taliban officials accused the U.S. of violating the Feb. 28, 2020 Doha Agreement that eventually led to the U.S. withdrawing all its forces from Afghanistan Aug. 15, 2021, but not before 12 U.S. soldiers were killed Aug. 26, 2021 in suicide bombing.
Taliban officials negotiating in Doha, Qatar promised they would keep al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists out of Afghanistan, let alone Kabul. For al-Zawahri to be given a residence in Kabul’s Sherpur district shows that it was authorized by Taliban leader Mullah Haibatulllah Akhunzada, a direct violation of the Doha Agreement. Like Bin Lden living for years in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Zawahri figured he’d be safe living in Kabul, right under the U.S. radar.. Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said he could not offer DNA confirmation of al-Zawahri’s death. “We’re not going to get that kind of confirmation,” Kirby said, though saying they had visual evidence of Zawahri’s death. Kirby said U.S. intel had “high confidence” of Zawahri’s death, for whatever skeptics questioned the CIA operation. When the U.S. left Afghanistan, concerns were raised about counterintelligence operations.
Targeting al-Zawahri indicates the U.S. still has spies on the ground in Kabul, something that embarrasses the Taliban, no doubt causing a crackdown, leading to arrests of anyone suspected of spying. Secretary of State Anton Blinke, 59, said the Taliban “grossly violated” the Doha Agreement, especially prohibiting harboring terrorists. Zawahri’s drone strike was similar to the one Jan. 3, 2020 that killed 63-year-old Iran’s Al-Qud’s leader Qasem Soleimani. “The message has been very, very clearly sent not just to al-Qaeda but to anybody that might harbor them,” Kirby said. CIA counterintelligence officials found that al-Zawahri’s family had been relocated to the safe house in Kabu, figuring, as it turns out, that al-Zawahri was there too. To hit him on the balcony showed that al-Zawhri’s liked to spend his time outdoors in the sun where the CIA finally made the kill-shot.
Zawahri was part of the old al-Qaeda leadership that inflicted so much misery on U.S. targets in the late ‘90s and early ‘2000s, before the ultimate attack Sept. 11, 2001. Killing al-Zawahri lets the terrorists know that plotting against the U.S. comes with price, no matter how long it takes. Biden deserves credit for relentlessly pursuing terrorist targets despite consumed with the U.S. proxy war against the Russian Federation. Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that if the U.S. labels Russia a “terrorist state,” the Russian Federation will cut diplomatic relations with Washington. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) passed a non-biding resolution branding Russia a “terrorist state.” Both know that there’s a big difference between terrorists like Bin Laden and al-Zawahri and 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
