Al-Qaeda Leader Killed in US Drone Strike

JUN 28 2022·Updated AUG 2 2022

Story

Image credit: Reuters [via BBC]

The Facts

US Pres. Biden announced Mon. that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda and one of the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan.
CNN
Osama bin Laden's successor was said to have been killed Sun. in a "precision strike" as part of a CIA counterterrorism operation, which had reportedly been planned for months.
BBC News
According to US officials, the Egyptian surgeon, who had a $25M bounty on him, was on the balcony of a so-called safe house in downtown Kabul when he was hit by two "hellfire" missiles, with reportedly no civilian casualties.
Reuters
According to a Taliban representative, Zawahiri moved from Helmand Province to Kabul after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in Aug. 2021, prompting questions about whether the Taliban backed him.
France 24
Meanwhile, US Sec. of State Antony Blinken accused the Taliban of violating the 2020 Doha Agreement, which set the terms for full US withdrawal from Afghanistan, by hosting the al-Qaeda leader. For their part, the Taliban condemned the airstrike as a violation of the Doha Agreement and "international principles."
Doha News
The reported drone attack on Zawahiri, who had been presumed dead several times in the past few years, is the US's first airstrike in Afghanistan since its complete withdrawal from the country in Aug. 2021.
Al Jazeera

Sources Split

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The Spin

Republican narrative

The whole case raises a key question: Why was Zawahiri in Kabul in the first place? This killing is above all proof that the Afghan threat posed by al-Qaeda hasn't been averted following Washington's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan; al-Qaeda remains more present in the country – with the Taliban's permission – than the admin. is willing to acknowledge. This foreign policy "triumph" for Biden is also the admission of a massive defeat.

wapo

Democratic narrative

The Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan hasn't hampered US counterterrorism operations. Biden's approach to fighting terrorism is working, and the killing of this terrorist patriarch in downtown Kabul is also a confirmation that the Taliban cannot be trusted.

MS Now

Establishment-critical narrative

The strike was a clear violation of the Doha agreement, and an attack on the sovereignty of Afghanistan. The US demonstrated that it continues to collect intelligence and even has military presence in the country. Such overt violations set a dangerous precedent and are condemnable regardless of the circumstances.

Arab News