US President Joe Biden confirmed on Monday 1is August the information that had leaked a few hours earlier in the American media: the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, was killed during the weekend during a drone strike in Kabul.
“On Saturday, on my orders, the United States carried out an airstrike on Kabul, Aghanistan, which killed the emir of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri”he launched during a short speech from the White House. “Justice has been served and this terrorist leader is no more”added Joe Biden.
This 71-year-old Egyptian was considered the mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Zawahiri had taken control of the terrorist organization after the death of Osama bin Laden, killed himself during a ground operation led by Washington in Pakistan. Inheriting in 2011 from a weakened organization, he had multiplied the “franchises” and the allegiances of circumstances, from the Arabian Peninsula to the Maghreb, from Somalia to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.
In his televised intervention held from a balcony of the White House in Washington, Joe Biden underlined the major role played by the terrorist leader within Al-Qaida since the attacks: « Zawahiri was constantly with Bin Laden all this time after 9/11. From his hiding place, he coordinated Al-Qaida worldwide. His death is a serious setback for Al-Qaeda and will deteriorate the group’s ability to operate. »
No civilian casualties, Biden says
The drone attack was carried out in the Afghan capital without any American military presence on the ground, said an American official, proof of the United States’ ability to “to identify and locate even the most wanted terrorists in the world and to take measures in order to eliminate them”. Ayman al-Zawahiri had been spotted “repeatedly and for long periods of time on the balcony where he was finally hit” by the strike in the Afghan capital, he added.
“This mission was very well preparedwelcomed Joe Biden. I gave the green light a week ago. There are no civilians affected, no collateral damage, no member of Ayman Al-Zawahiri’s family injured. » The operation is the work of the CIA, American foreign intelligence. The State Department was offering up to $25 million in rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the al-Qaeda leader.
The disappearance of Ayman Al-Zawahiri will help the many victims and relatives of victims of September 11 to mourn, according to the American president: ” Ground Zero in New York will always be there to remind us of the promise we made to the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, colleagues of those who died on September 11, 2001. Listen to me carefully, we will always be there to protect our citizens. We will never give up. I hope that this decisive action [leur] allow you to turn the page. »
One year after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
The death of the leader of Al-Qaeda comes nearly a year after the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, which had allowed the Taliban to regain control of the country twenty years later.
This departure does not prevent actions from being carried out on the spot, recalled Joe Biden in his speech: « No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, we will always be there to bring justice, should you attack us. I made a promise, we will continue to carry out counterintelligence actions in Afghanistan. My administration will continue to attack the interests of Al-Qaida. We never stop, we never give up, we won’t let go. »
According to an American official, the presence of Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul constitutes a « violation claire » agreements reached with the Taliban in Doha in 2020, under which the Islamists had pledged not to welcome Al-Qaida on their soil, noted this official.
The terrorist organization had already lost its number 2, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, killed in August 2020 in the streets of Tehran by Israeli agents during a secret mission sponsored by Washington, information revealed at the time by the New York Times.
The United States had also announced in mid-July that it had killed the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, Maher Al-Agal, during a drone strike, an operation which had “significantly weakened the ability of IS to prepare, finance and conduct its operations in the region”according to a US military spokesman.