Aymán al-Zawahiri, leader of Al Qaeda and one of the most wanted terrorists by the United States, died this weekend in a drone operation carried out by the CIA in Afghanistan. His disappearance was described as “a great moment” for the United States, a circumstance that was underlined with a speech to the nation by President Joe Biden, despite continuing to convalesce from covid.
His disappearance was described as “a great moment” for the United States, a circumstance that was underlined with a speech to the nation by President Joe Biden, despite continuing to convalesce from covid. "Justice has been done," he remarked from a balcony. "This terrorist is no longer a threat," he insisted. “If you are a danger to our people, the United States will find you,” he remarked.
Previously, the White House issued a brief statement to advance one of the most desired news for more than two decades, since September 2001, when the 9/11 attacks occurred, with more than 3,000 deaths in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a major Al Qaeda target in Afghanistan. The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” it was reported, without giving the name of the target.
The intervention was defined with high precision and took months of preparation after locating a relative of the wanted person in Kabul. The preparation was carried out by a small group of intelligence members to avoid any type of leak.
The persecution of Aymán al-Zawahiri, considered number one on the most wanted list, has not stopped during all these years, even less since he rose to the leadership of Al Qaeda after the disappearance of his boss, Osama bin Laden, in the 2011. But the operation that has led to his death began this year after the intelligence services located his wife, his daughter and her son, who were relocated to a safe house in Kabul.
Month by month they were connecting the dots, they managed to establish some family guidelines through the contribution of different sources. Al-Zawahiri was observed on the balcony. To train the operation, they built a mock-up for practice.
The government delayed offering information on the result as soon as the bombing took place in order to confirm with complete certainty that the leader of Al Qaeda had really fallen in the attack.
Al Zawahiri supervised with Osama bin Laden the attacks of September 11, 2001. The two disappeared as soon as the attack took place. Once the US started the war in Afghanistan, the two terrorist leaders became wanted by the intelligence services. However, the two managed to escape from that persecution.
It was not until the last day of April or the first day of May, depending on the time, that the Navy Seals, in a high-risk operation ordered by President Barack Obama, hunted down and killed Bin Laden. In that case, the operation took place in Abbottabad, Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Bin Laden was at his residence, along with his family.
However, Al Zawahiri's whereabouts remained a mystery after the attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan.
The whereabouts of this training surgeon, born 71 years ago in Egypt, were never known again, and news of him was only known through the videos he published threatening the United States. Until this Monday when the news took everyone by surprise.
The administration recalled that a year ago, after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Biden assured that the United States did not allow that country to become a haven for terrorists.
