What former President Obama has to say after Zawahiri’s killing

President Joe Biden confirmed that the Al-Qaeda leader was killed in a drone strike done by the US in Kabul

Zawahri was killed in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the CIA in the capital of Kabul.

He was on the balcony of a safe house as a drone fired two missiles at him killing him instantly.

Advertisement

The safe house is owned by Sirajuddin Haqqani, a Taliban leader who has been serving as the deputy leader of the Afghan State.

The 71-year-old Al-Qaeda leader became Osama Bin Laden’s successor after he was killed in an operation carried out by the Americans in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.  Zawahiri was involved in planning and executing the 9/11 attacks alongside Bin Laden.

Besides 9/11, Zawahiri had orchestrated the suicide bombing attack on the American Destroyer USS Cole in Aden, Yemen that killed 17 US sailors. He was also responsible for the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 223 people.

These attacks made Zawahiri the most wanted man in the US.

Biden said he had given the final approval for the “precision strike” on the 71-year-old Al Qaeda leader after months of planning.

His killing will bring closure to families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the 2001 attacks, Biden added.

The former American President took to Twitter to welcome the killing of the terrorist.

He said, “More than 20 years after 9/11, one of the masterminds of that terrorist attack and Osama bin Laden’s successor as the leader of al-Qaeda – Ayman al-Zawahiri – has finally been brought to justice.”

It’s a tribute to President Biden’s leadership, to the members of the intelligence community who have been working for decades for this moment, and to the counterterrorism professionals who were able to take al-Zawahiri out without a single civilian casualty.

“Tonight’s news is also proof that it’s possible to root out terrorism without being at war in Afghanistan. And I hope it provides a small measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of al-Qaeda,” the former US President added.

The American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that the Taliban was hosting and sheltering the Al-Qaeda on Afghan soil and they have “grossly violated” the Doha Peace Accords as the Taliban had agreed not to harbour terrorists in Afghanistan.

Taliban described this move by the US as “a clear violation of international principles”

“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 Taliban spokesman added.