Pardafas Reporter
Ayman al-Zawahiri, left, pictured with Osama bin Laden in Khost, Afghanistan, in 1998. Photograph: Mazhar Ali Khan/AP
A US drone strike in Afghanistan has killed the top al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Joe Biden announced on Monday.
The US president described the death of al-Zawahiri, who was Osama Bin Laden’s deputy and successor, as a major blow to the terrorist network behind the September 11 2001 attacks.
“Justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said in a live televised address from the White House. “People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer.”
The CIA strike will be seen as a proof of the US’s ability to conduct “over-the-horizon” operations despite last year’s military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. But it also raised questions over al-Qaida’s continued presence in the country since the Taliban regained power.
One of the world’s most wanted men, al-Zawahiri and his family had moved into a safe house in downtown Kabul, the capital, according to White House officials. He was spotted on a balcony on numerous occasions over several months and continued to produce al-Qaida propaganda videos, some of which may yet appear posthumously.
Biden was personally involved in meetings to plan a potential strike against him during May, June and July, a senior administration official said on a conference call with reporters.
