American officials have published the details of the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, in the US airstrike in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
According to Pak Sahafat news agency, a senior official of the US government has said that al-Zawahiri was in hiding for years and that the operation to find and kill him was the result of the “patient, meticulous and persistent” work of the US counter-terrorism and intelligence community.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that for several years, the US government was aware of a network that the country assessed was supporting Ayman al-Zawahiri. He did not give more details about this network.
He added that during the last year, after the withdrawal of America from Afghanistan, the American authorities were looking for signs of the presence of Al-Qaeda in this country.
According to this American official, this year the authorities identified that the Al-Zawahiri family; His wife, daughter and children have moved to a safe house in Kabul and later he was also identified in this house.
The US official added that over the course of several months, intelligence officials became more confident that they had correctly identified al-Zawahiri at a safe house in Kabul. According to him, this issue was shared with senior government officials in early April, and then US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan subsequently informed Joe Biden.
This official said that when al-Zawahiri arrived at the safe house in Kabul, the authorities were unaware of his departure from the house. But he was identified several times on the balcony of this house, where he was targeted.
He added that officials reviewed the construction and nature of al-Zawahiri’s safe house and its occupants to ensure that the United States could safely conduct an operation to kill al-Zawahiri without threatening the building and minimizing the risk to civilians and his family.
In recent weeks, the president has held meetings with key advisers and cabinet members to scrutinize the information and assess the best course of action, according to the US source.
The American official added that Biden asked about lighting, weather and other factors that could affect the success of the operation. According to him, the American president also demanded to analyze the possible consequences of the attack in Kabul.
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According to this American official, a group of senior interagency lawyers also reviewed intelligence reports and confirmed that al-Zawahiri is a legal target due to his continued leadership of al-Qaeda.
The official said that on July 25, Biden called his cabinet members and advisers for a final meeting to discuss how the killing of al-Zawahiri will affect US relations with the Taliban.
According to him, after getting others to agree, Biden authorized a “precision airstrike” on the condition that the risk of civilian casualties is minimized.
The American official has stated that al-Zawahiri was finally killed on July 30, at 9:48 a.m. US time by an unmanned aircraft by firing missiles known as “Hellfire”.
Joe Biden announced in a televised speech on Monday night that Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in an airstrike by American forces in the heart of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
He said that he authorized this attack himself and by killing al-Zawahiri, justice has been done for him and “this terrorist leader is no longer alive”.
An air attack against the leader of Al-Qaeda was carried out on Sunday morning 9:00am Kabul time on a house in Shirpur, Kabul city. An attack that the Taliban initially declared to be a rocket landing on an empty residential house. This group, however, confirmed on Monday and Saturday that it was an air attack and was carried out by an American plane.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the nature of this attack was not determined at the beginning, but the initial findings of their security and intelligence agencies indicate that this attack was carried out by an American drone.
Mujahid added that this attack is condemned by the Taliban for whatever purpose and pretext it was carried out, and this group considers it against international principles and disobeying the Doha Agreement.
In the Doha agreement, the Taliban promised America that they would cut ties with Al-Qaeda and would not allow terrorist groups to operate in Afghanistan.