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 who wish to attack the United States — something al-Zawahri has done for years in videos on Internet and in 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. WATCHES | Biden Announces Killing of Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahri:
‘Justice was served’: Al Qaeda leader killed, Biden confirms
US President Joe Biden has confirmed the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in a precision mission. Javed Ali, former senior director of the US National Security Council, shares his reaction and analysis with CBC News. 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 United Nations 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 report by the monitors 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 capability and restraint, as well as their reluctance to jeopardize their recent gains,” such as having a safe haven and improved resources. A Taliban fighter stands guard near the site where al-Zawahri was killed in Kabul. (Reuters) 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, Analytical’s report found. 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 against Taliban targets and civilians.
“Power Struggle”
The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamic insurgent group formed 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 Taliban’s first deputy leader since 2016. The US government has a $10 million bounty on him for “several significant kidnappings and attacks against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, the Afghan government and political goals”. Osama bin Laden, left, sits with Ayman al-Zawahri in this November 2001 picture. (Hamid Mir/Daily Dawn/Reuters) 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 is not so surprising that the building [al-Zawahri lived in] would belong to the Haqqani family. … This creates a tension [in] what the Taliban movement is, especially in terms of how it’s trying to reach out to the international community, normalize and so on.”
