'Justice has been delivered.' Biden hails Ayman al-Zawahiri killing as a sign of America's resolve
yman al-Zawahiri, the elusive leader of al-Qaeda who played a key role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and took over the transnational terrorist franchise following Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011, was killed in a U.S. drone strike Sunday morning in Kabul.
The assassination marks an end of an era for the shadowy group, which has proven resilient despite more than two decades of war. U.S. intelligence estimates only a few hundred core al-Qaeda members remain, most of them living in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, with its leadership ranks decimated.
The path to Zawahiri’s demise began several years ago when the U.S. government picked up on a terror network it believed was concealing the al-Qaeda leader and his family, the senior official said. Then last year, U.S. intelligence began watching for indications that he may let his guard down with the Taliban’s reemergence to power in Afghanistan. “This year, we identified as the Zawahiri family, his wife, his daughter and her children relocated to a safe-house in Kabul,” the official said.
U.S. intelligence observed Zawahiri and also investigated the construction and nature of the safe-house, so that “we could confidently conduct an operation to kill” him without threatening the structural integrity of the building and while minimizing the risk to his family and nearby civilians, the official said. “We convened a team of independent analysts to review all data surrounding the identity of the occupants of the safe house,” the official said.
On July 25, Biden convened cabinet members and advisors for a final briefing on the intelligence assessment. At the end of the meeting, he authorized a drone strike. The authorization meant the U.S. government could conduct the strike as soon as an opportunity was available.
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