leader of Al Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed over the weekend in a drone strike in a US counterterrorism operation, President Joe Biden announced Monday night.
“He cut a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats and American interests,” President Biden said in his brief remarks from the House balcony. White. “Now, justice has been served. And this terrorist leader is no more.”
The president said al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul.
“After tirelessly searching for Zawahiri for years under Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump, our intelligence community located Zawahiri earlier this year,” Biden said. “He had moved to central Kabul to meet with members of his immediate family.”
The US government had multiple independent sources confirming al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts in a shelter, a senior administration official told reporters on a call late Monday. The strike was the result of careful, patient and persistent work by counterterrorism officials over months and years.
The president said that after considering “clear and convincing evidence” of al-Zawahiri’s location, he “authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all.” He gave his final go-ahead to “go get him” a week ago.
Al-Zawahiri was finally taken out by a drone at 9:48 pm ET on Saturday, while he was on the balcony of the safe house, and his family members were in different rooms of the house.
“None of their family members were injured and there were no civilian casualties,” the president said. The US government has a high level of confidence that no one else was killed in the strike, according to the senior administration official.
The senior administration official said the president received regular updates while the US government focused on al-Zawahiri. Once the shelter was located, the president wanted to understand more about the layout of the shelter’s doors and windows to prevent further casualties. In a meeting on July 25, the president authorized a precise and targeted air strike that would minimize civilian casualties as much as possible, the senior administration official said.
With the death of al-Zawahiri, all the main conspirators of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks they are now dead or captured.
The strike comes nearly a year after US troops withdrew Afghanistan, which was not lost on the president. The Biden administration has long argued that it can continue to address terrorist threats to the American people without boots on the ground in Afghanistan, from “over the horizon.”
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“When I ended our military mission in Afghanistan almost a year ago, I made the decision that after 20 years of war, the United States no longer needed thousands of boots in Afghanistan to protect America from the terrorists who they’re looking to hurt us,” Mr. Biden said. “I made a promise to the American people that we would continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond. We have.”
Two intelligence sources familiar with the matter said the attack was carried out by the CIA.
The president, who tested positive with a rebound case of COVID-19he delivered his remarks outdoors from a White House balcony.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed an airstrike carried out by a drone in Kabul on Monday. He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers it a clear violation of international principles.
But former acting CIA director and CBS News contributor Michael Morell said after the president’s remarks that “I find it very hard to believe. [al-Zawahiri] was in Kabul without the knowledge of at least some of the Taliban leaders.”
Noting that al-Zawahiri was “living there quite openly, not trying to hide,” Morell said the strike also makes it clear to any other al Qaeda members in Afghanistan that they still have to worry about its security, despite the fact that the US no longer has troops there.
Al-Zawahiri has long been a wanted man. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, then-President George W. Bush released a list of the 22 most wanted terrorists by the FBI, with al-Zawahiri at the top of the list along with Osama bin Laden.
For years, al-Zawahiri was known as al Qaeda’s No. 2, but many analysts believe he was actually the mastermind behind the bin Laden operation.
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Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in 2011, but al-Zawahiri eluded attempts on his life and an international manhunt until his death.
Zawahiri continued to release video statements, including one on September 11, 2021, although it was unclear whether that recording was new or old. For years he was rumored to be dead, and the United States offered $25 million for information that might lead to his capture.
— CBS News’ Arden Farhi, Nancy Cordes, Andres Triay, Ahmad Muktar, Pat Milton and Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.
