In an update to Ayman al-Zawahiri’s killing, reports have emerged stating that US intelligence tracked down the reclusive Al-Qaeda terrorist in Afghanistan early this year after he relocated from Pakistan to a Taliban-backed safe house in a rich area in central Kabul.
Reportedly, the residence where Zawahiri was living allegedly belonged to a prominent assistant of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is thought to have close relations with Rawalpindi. Haqqani wrote a column for NYTimes on what Taliban wants just months before the Islamist group took over Afghanistan
Yesterday, US President Joe Biden announced that terrorist organization Al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed in airstrikes. In his statement, Biden said, “I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all.” 71-years-old Zawahiri used to be a close aide and personal physician of Al-Qaeda founder and chief Osama Bin Laden. Since Laden was neutralized 11 years ago by the US, Zawahiri had become a prominent face of the terrorist organization.
#BREAKING | ‘Al-Zawahiri was moved from Pakistan to Kabul’: Sensational details out on Al-Qaeda chief.
— Republic (@republic) August 2, 2022
Watch here-https://t.co/bSgy9xlAGc pic.twitter.com/634VqFwW8n
According to the reports, he was hiding in downtown Kabul intending to reunite with his family. He was killed in a precisely tailored airstrike. The US armed forces used drones to fire two Hellfire missiles for the kill at around 9:48 PM ET on July 31. The authorisation for the military action to eliminate Zawahiri was given after several meetings with the US cabinet and the key advisers. At the time of the strike, no American personnel was present in Kabul.
US intelligence authorities had established that Zawahiri had relocated from Pakistan to a Taliban-backed safe house in Kabul’s downtown. Officials stated Zawahiri’s wife and children had moved there first. As US intelligence authorities tracked them, they discovered Zawahiri had joined his family. According to a senior government official who addressed reporters on the mission on Monday, after Zawahiri arrived at the safe house, he never left.
Zawahiri was long thought to be residing in Pakistan. Reports mention that his death in Kabul demonstrates not just the two nations’ porous border, but also Al-Qaeda’s decade-long usage of facilities, residences, buildings, and compounds throughout both countries.
Meanwhile, reports have also emerged claiming that Pakistan may have leaked the Al Qaeda chief’s location to the US. Germany-based Afghan analyst Fahim Sadat while in conversation with Republic TV that in lieu of IMF permission, the Pakistani security apparatus may have assisted the US in locating the terrorist.
“If this incident has not happened in coordination with the Taliban, I can also not reject the assumption that looking at the economic hardship of Pakistan, the Pakistani military establishment may have coordinated the whereabouts of Zawahiri with the Americans in return for America’s help on IMF and other economic hardships that they are facing. This is already complicated. This will hugely damage the Taliban’s claim for legitimacy and recognition by the international community,” he was quoted.
