In early April, White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer and Biden’s homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall were briefed on this developing intelligence.
He had also prioritized to members of the terror network that the United States remained al-Qaida’s “primary enemy,” the official said. The senior administration official said al-Zawahri had continued to “provide strategic direction,” including urging attacks on the U.S., while in hiding. Military leaders have warned that the group still aspired to attack the U.S.Īfter his killing, the White House underscored that al-Zawahri had continued to be a dangerous figure. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said al-Qaida was trying to reconstitute in Afghanistan, where it faced limited threats from the now-ruling Taliban. But America’s exit from Afghanistan last September gave the extremist group the opportunity to rebuild. targeted and splintered al-Qaida, sending leaders into hiding. Over the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the U.S. government is “in direct communication with the Taliban on this, and I’m not going to telegraph our next moves, but the Taliban well understand the United States is going to defend its interests.” On Tuesday morning, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that “there was nobody on the ground in uniform when this strike occurred.” Sullivan added that the U.S. The official also added that a CIA ground team and aerial reconnaissance conducted after the drone strike confirmed al-Zawahri’s death. The house Al-Zawahri was in when he was killed was owned by a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior intelligence official. Together, he and bin Laden turned the jihadi movement’s guns to target the United States, carrying out the deadliest attack ever on American soil - the Sept.
intelligence community in his remarks, noting that “thanks to their extraordinary persistence and skill” the operation was a success.Īl-Zawahri’s death eliminates the figure who more than anyone shaped al-Qaida, first as bin Laden’s deputy since 1998, then as his successor. Neither Biden nor the White House detailed the CIA’s involvement in the strike.īiden, however, paid tribute to the U.S. The strike was carried out by the CIA, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The operation is a significant counterterrorism win for the Biden administration just 11 months after American troops left the country after a two-decade war.
“This terrorist leader is no more,” he added. Navy SEALs after a nearly decade-long hunt.Īs for Al-Zawahri, Biden said, “He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens.” Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, in operation carried out by U.S. The president approved the operation last week and it was carried out Sunday.Īl-Zawahri and the better-known Osama bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks that brought many ordinary Americans their first knowledge of al-Qaida. intelligence officials tracked al-Zawahri to a home in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. The president said in an evening address from the White House that U.S. drone strike in Kabul, an operation he said delivered justice and hopefully “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of the Sept. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden announced Monday that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a U.S.