ISLAMABAD (AP) – A U.S. drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri on the balcony of a Kabul safe house on Tuesday strengthened global control of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and further undermined efforts them to secure international recognition and desperately needed aid.
The Taliban had promised in the 2020 Doha Agreement on the terms of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that they would not harbor al-Qaeda members or those seeking to attack the US
But a 9/11 mastermind who has called for strikes on the United States in numerous video messages in recent years has lived for months apparently under the protection of senior Taliban figures.
The safe house where al-Zawahri was staying in the upscale Shirpur district of Kabul was the home of a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior US intelligence official. Haqqani is the deputy head of the Taliban, serves as interior minister in their government and heads the Haqqani network, a powerful faction within the movement.
However, there have been persistent reports of unease among the Taliban leadership, particularly tensions between the Haqqani network and rivals within the movement.
The Taliban initially tried to describe the strike as a violation by America of the Doha agreement, in which the US pledged not to attack the group. The Taliban have not yet said who was killed in the attack.
“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 took over as al-Qaeda leader 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.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry issued a very carefully worded statement, which referred to a “United States counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan,” but did not mention al-Zawahri. “Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” it said. Pakistan is lobbying for the world to give more recognition and support to the Taliban government.
The strike early Sunday rocked Shirpur, once a district of historic buildings that were bulldozed 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, senior Taliban moved into some of the abandoned houses there.
The targeted safe house is only a few blocks from the British embassy, which has been closed since the Taliban took over in August. 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 fighters.
Observers said it was unlikely that al Qaeda would seek to carry out direct attacks outside Afghanistan, “due to a lack of capability and restraint on the part of the Taliban, as well as a reluctance to jeopardize their 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. The team 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. The US government is holding a $10 million bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani for attacks on US troops and Afghan civilians.
However, the Haqqani, from Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province, have rivals 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 Haqqani attacks on civilians in Kabul and elsewhere during the insurgency.
Jerome Drevon, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group who studies Islamist militant groups, said tensions centered on how to direct the new regime — “how to share power … who gets what position, who can control which ministries, to decide general policies and so on’.
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, the killing of al-Zawahri 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 Afghan soil to be used by terrorists 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 controlled by the Taliban – reported that 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.
Al-Zawahri’s death coincided with the 32nd anniversary of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait – creating a kind of bookend for al-Qaeda’s era of militancy. Saddam’s invasion provoked the American military presence in Saudi Arabia, which in turn was a factor in prompting bin Laden to turn his weapons on America, culminating in the 9/11 attacks.
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell and Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.