A US drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri on the balcony of a safe house in Kabul intensified global scrutiny of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Tuesday and further undermined their efforts to secure international recognition and desperately needed help. The Taliban had promised in the 2020 Doha Agreement on the terms of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that they would not harbor members of al-Qaeda. Nearly a year after the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, al-Zawahri’s killing raises questions about the involvement of Taliban leaders in harboring the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and one of America’s most wanted fugitives. . The safe house is located in the upscale Shirpur neighborhood of Kabul, home to several Taliban leaders who had moved into the mansions of former top Afghan officials in the government toppled by the West. The Taliban initially tried to portray the strike as America’s violation of the Doha agreement, which also includes a Taliban pledge not to protect those seeking to attack the United States — something al-Zawahri had done for years in videos on the Internet and online chats. The Taliban have not yet said who was killed in the attack. Meanwhile, rumors persist of concern within Taliban ranks — particularly among the powerful group known as the Haqqani network, which apparently harbored al-Zawahri, and other Taliban figures. “The killing of Ayman al-Zawahri has raised many questions,” said a Pakistani intelligence official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly to reporters. Al-Zawahri assumed leadership of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in 2011, in a US Navy SEAL operation. “The Taliban knew about his presence in Kabul and if they didn’t, they need to explain their position,” the official said. The strike early Sunday rattled Shirpur, once home to historic buildings demolished in 2003 to make way for luxury homes for officials of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government and international aid agencies. After the US withdrawal in August 2021, the Taliban elite began taking over some of the abandoned houses there. The house where al-Zawahri lived was the home of a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior US intelligence official. Taliban officials blocked AP reporters in Kabul from reaching the damaged home on Tuesday. The UN Security Council was told by militant monitors in July that al Qaeda enjoys greater freedom in Afghanistan under the Taliban, but is limited to advising and supporting the country’s new leaders. A monitor report said the two groups remain close and that al Qaeda fighters, estimated to number between 180 and 400, are represented “at an individual level” among Taliban fighting units. Observers said it was unlikely that al-Qaeda would seek to carry out direct attacks outside Afghanistan, “due to the Taliban’s lack of capacity and restraint, as well as its reluctance to jeopardize recent gains”, such as having a secure shelter and improved resources. In the first half of 2022, al-Zawahri increasingly reached out to supporters with video and audio messages, including assurances that al-Qaeda could compete with the Islamic State group for leadership of a global movement, according to the report Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Group. he said. Islamic State militants have emerged as a major threat to the Taliban over the past year, carrying out a series of deadly attacks on Taliban targets and civilians. The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamic insurgent group built around the family of the same name. In the 1980s, it fought Soviet forces, and for the past 20 years, it has fought US-led NATO troops and the former government of Afghanistan. Sirajuddin Haqqani has also served as the first deputy leader of the Taliban movement since 2016. Since last August, he has also served as the designated interior ministry of the Taliban government. The US government is holding a $10 million bounty on him for “multiple significant kidnappings and attacks against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, the Afghan government and political targets.” But the Haqqani, from Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province, have been at odds with others in the Taliban leadership, mainly from the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. Some believe that Sirajuddin Haqqani wants more power. Other Taliban figures have spoken out against the Haqqanis’ violent attacks on civilians in Kabul and elsewhere. “It seems to me that the power struggle within the Taliban is general. It’s not necessarily about the US or the international community. It’s about the new regime, how to share power within the new regime, who gets what position, who gets to control you which ministries, to decide the overall policies and so on,” said Jerome Drevon, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group who studies Islamist militant groups. “It’s not surprising that the building will be owned by the Haqqani family… This creates a tension between what the Taliban movement is, especially in terms of how it tries to reach out to the international community, normalize itself and so on,” he said. The timing of the strike also could not have come at a worse time politically for the Taliban. The militants face international condemnation for refusing to reopen schools for girls above the sixth grade, despite earlier promises. The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan has also criticized the Taliban for human rights abuses under their rule. The US and its allies have cut billions in development funds that have partly kept the government afloat because of abuses, as well as freezing billions in Afghan national assets. This sent the already damaged economy into freefall, dramatically increasing poverty and creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Millions, struggling to feed their families, are being kept alive by a massive UN-led aid effort. The Taliban are trying to turn on the taps of this aid and their supplies again. However, al-Zawahri’s killing has already been seized upon by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as a sign that the Taliban “flagrantly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances … that they will not allow terrorists to use Afghan soil to threaten the security of other countries”. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the US violated the Doha Agreement by launching the strike. Afghanistan’s state television channel — now under the Taliban — reported that US President Joe Biden said al-Zawahri had been killed. “The killing of Ayman al-Zawahri closes a chapter of al-Qaeda,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Islamabad-based Center for Security Research and Studies. In the Middle East, al-Zawahri’s killing coincided with the 32nd anniversary of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, which triggered the US military presence in Saudi Arabia — the same presence bin Laden pointed to when the attacks began of September 11. Anwar Gargas, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, noted the timeline. It’s “an opportunity for the region to ponder and reflect on the absurdity of extremism, terrorism and reckless military adventures and how all of this has made the fabric (of the region),” Gargas wrote on Twitter. “The lessons and lessons are present and the hope lies in the countries of the region coming together to guarantee security and common development.” —— Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell and Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report
