The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in Afghanistan this weekend in a successful counterterrorism operation. Monday night, President Biden will address the nation at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The White House will host a national address on the operation.
Fox News was told by two intelligence sources that Ayman Al Zahiri, a leader of al Qaeda, was killed in a CIA drone strike.
Fox News Digital’s former Vice President Dick Cheney said in response to the news that the operation was underway, “It’s great that we got him. I’ve been out the business for many decades, so I am still waiting to learn all of the facts.”
Cheney was a former President George W. Bush’s administration, which led the Global War on Terror following the Sept. 11 attacks.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul was closed by the Biden administration and all military assets were withdrawn from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021. This ended the longest US war.
At the time, President Biden defended withdrawing from Afghanistan, claiming that al Qaeda was gone.
“What interest do you have in Afghanistan now that al Qaeda is gone?” Biden stated this on August 20, 2021. “We went to Afghanistan with the sole purpose of eliminating al Qaeda in Afghanistan and — as well – getting Osama Bin Laden. We did.
Last September, Gen. Mark Milley (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) warned Congress that terrorist groups such as al Qaeda could grow faster after the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan.
At the time, Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary, stated that the U.S. would continue its military efforts in Afghanistan to counter terrorist threats and not the Taliban. Austin stated that the U.S. would “keep a close eye” on al Qaeda, an extremist network who used Afghanistan as a safe haven to plan the 9/11 attacks.
Ayman Al Zahiri was seen in a video last January to commemorate 20 years since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, despite rumors that his death had been months prior.
Al Zawahiri was named the successor to Usama Bin Laden in June 2011, one month after the terrorist leader was killed in an attack on a compound in Abbottabad (Pakistan).
Zabihullah mujahid, the Taliban’s official Twitter account, stated that an “air strike” was conducted on a Kabul residential house. At first, the nature of this incident was not disclosed.”
The spokesperson condemned the strike.
A Taliban spokesperson stated that such actions were a repeat of the failures of the past twenty years and were against the interests of America, Afghanistan, and the region.
The spokesperson stated that repeating such actions would damage all available opportunities.
