Taliban say investigating US claim of killing Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri

Taliban say investigating US claim of killing Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri
August 4, 2022, 7:36 pm

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. (File photo AFP)

A Taliban official said on Thursday (August 4) that the Taliban are investigating a US “claim” that Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul, indicating the group’s leadership were not aware of his presence there.

As it is the biggest blow to the militants since Osama bin Laden was shot dead more than a decade ago, the United States killed Zawahiri with a missile fired from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his Kabul hideout on Sunday (August 4), US officials said.

“The government and the leadership wasn’t aware of what is being claimed, nor any trace there,” Suhail Shaheen, the designated Taliban representative to the United Nations, who is based in Doha, told journalists in a message.

“Investigation is underway now to find out about the veracity of the claim,” he said, adding that the results of the investigation would be shared publicly.

FILE - Afghan women pass next of Taliban fighter in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 13, 2022. The lives of Afghan women and girls are being destroyed by the Taliban’s crackdown on their human rights, said Amnesty International in a new report Wednesday, July 27, 2022. The London-based watchdog criticized Taliban authorities saying that since Taliban took control of the country in August 2021, they have violated women’s and girls’ rights to education, work and free movement. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Taliban leaders have remained largely tight-lipped about the Sunday drone strike and have not confirmed the presence or death of Zawahiri in Kabul, the Arabnews reported, citing Reuters.

Three sources in the group said, top Taliban leaders have been holding lengthy discussions about how to respond to the US drone strike.

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How the Taliban react could have significant repercussions as the group seeks international legitimacy and access to billions of dollars in frozen funds, following their defeat of a US-backed government a year ago.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, was closely involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and was one of the world’s most wanted men, the report said.

His death in Kabul raises questions about whether he received sanctuary from the Taliban, who had assured the United States as part of a 2020 agreement on the withdrawal of US-led forces that they would not harbor other militant groups.

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Shaheen said the Afghanistan was committed to the agreement, signed in the Qatari capital, Doha.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taliban had “grossly violated” the agreement by hosting and sheltering Zawahiri.

Source: arabnews

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