The fancy house where Ayman al-Zawahiri was reportedly killed by a drone strike while he was out on his balcony is in the heart of the Afghan capital. By Tuesday morning, sheets of dark green plastic covered broken windows seen in photos shared earlier on social media. But Afghanistan’s new rulers have been aggressive in preventing journalists and curious passers-by from getting a closer look at the ruined house. Ayman al-Zawahiri Photo: Site Intelligence Group/AFP/Getty Images “It’s our pain, let’s face it,” a Taliban militant guard told Guardian reporters after blocking the entrance to the street where Zawahiri lived, following them out of the compound and demanding access to their phones. Other journalists were harassed and held at gunpoint. Neighbors said the Taliban visited at night and ordered them not to let anyone onto rooftops that could provide a clear view of the four-story house. Zawahiri drone strike map Locals in the capital’s Sherpur district said they had no idea they were sleeping next to a man with a $25m (£20.5m) bounty on his head, but said they were used to living in a dangerous area. Its wealthy, upscale residents and a cluster of nearby embassies have made it a magnet for major attacks for years. In 2014, an attack on a popular Lebanese restaurant killed more than 20 people, a 2017 truck bomb outside the nearby German embassy killed more than 150 in 2017, and an explosion almost exactly a year ago destroyed the home of then-defense minister Bismillah Khan. . “We’re used to these things,” said Said, who runs a travel agency a few blocks from the site of the drone attack that startled the office cleaner early Sunday morning. “If there is anyone [important] here, we can’t do anything about it.” He was relieved that there was no damage from the strike, which the US claimed was so narrowly targeted that it killed only one person because the entire office had to be rebuilt after the explosion at the German embassy five years ago. Smoke rises over Kabul after US strike kills al Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri – video report But while the previous killings in Sherpur were the work of Taliban suicide squads targeting Americans and their Afghan allies, this time the roles of hunter and hunted were reversed. He was a Taliban guest – or perhaps a prisoner – targeted by Washington. “Given its location in a very dense (and formerly migrant-heavy) area of Kabul, there’s no doubt about the Taliban,” said Ashley Jackson, co-director of the Center for Armed Forces and an expert on militant groups in Afghanistan. “One theory is that the Taliban had him under some sort of house arrest, which would have allowed them to keep a close eye on him and explain why he was in the heart of the capital.” A year ago, the al Qaeda leader’s neighbors in Sherpur would have included warlords and corrupt technocrats, whose vast mansions were often built on stolen land. The region’s excesses have become emblematic of the corruption and abuses of Afghan democracy. In a now-closed supermarket at the end of the road, wealthy locals and foreigners alike could buy imported luxuries from frozen lobster to Dorset Cereals muesli and Ritter Sport chocolates. A decade earlier, many of Sherpur’s huge and often gaudy “poppy palaces” – named for the opium money pouring into the capital – were also rented at inflated prices to American contractors made rich by the war. A Taliban security guard in Sherpur after the drone attack. Photo: EPA By the time the al Qaeda leader reportedly moved earlier this year, Taliban ministers and commanders had replaced the elite of the Afghan republic and its allies. They took over some of the city’s prime real estate when they seized the levers of power, as their predecessors had done two decades earlier. The view from the top of Zawahiri’s home in Kabul would include the huge old trees of the heavily fortified green belt, where NATO diplomats and generals fell as they slowly lost the war. It is now the center of the Taliban pariah regime, protected by extensive intelligence and security networks. In this militant bubble, Zawahiri apparently felt relaxed enough to stay with his family and spend time outside on the balcony as US drones circled overhead, watching the townspeople. View of Sherpur neighborhood. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Under the Doha accord the Donald Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban that cleared the way for America to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the militants promised to sever ties with al-Qaeda. They also pledged not to let Afghan soil be used to plan international terrorist attacks. Yet less than a year after the final flight of US forces from the city’s airport, Zawahiri was heading a global jihadist organization from Kabul. Joe Biden claimed the strike as a victory against terrorism, finally taking out one of the architects of the 9/11 attacks on America. But many in Afghanistan fear more violence could follow. A resident of the area heard the sound of the drone. He said the area was soon flooded with troops from the Taliban’s elite Badri unit, who blocked all side roads to the house and a lane of the main road running outside. “I didn’t go near the scene as they might arrest you and ask you what you’re doing,” he said, but added that he was bothered by news of who was hit. “Now I’m wondering if I should move away.”
