Terrorist leaders are reportedly evacuating Kabul after Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by the US in the centre of the city, leaders of the former Afghan government say.
Zawahiri's death in an elite neighbourhood at the heart of Kabul has raised worrying red flags about terrorists being harboured by the Taliban regime.
The 71-year-old with a $US25 million ($36m) bounty on his head had been hiding out in Afghanistan's harsh mountains.
But after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan just under a year ago, he moved to one of Kabul's wealthiest suburbs, where he was ultimately killed by a US drone while standing on the balcony of his four-storey safehouse.
Zawahiri was Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, widely seen as the architect of the September 11 attacks, and took over as leader when bin Laden was killed in 2011.
He was living in the Sherpur area, a wealthy part of Kabul known for its extravagant villas. It is near the diplomatic enclave where the now evacuated Australian embassy is based.
"It is the heart of Kabul, a posh area with some of the best infrastructure and buildings," former Afghan deputy defence minister Tamim Asey said.
"And it has historical significance because many of the foreign fighters during the first [rule of the Taliban], including Al Qaeda leaders, were living there in the 1990s.
"Now they have returned, in their own words, victorious to their old homes."
Mr Asey, who now runs Kabul's Institute of War and Peace Studies, said the area was heavily guarded.
"It's one of the areas with the highest level of security because of the presence of these foreign terrorist fighters," he said.
"There are other high-level terrorists who are living there, and now I'm hearing reports that they are evacuating them from those areas after the attack."
The area has been under tight security since Zawahiri's killing. Streets have been deserted and Taliban guards are patrolling the neighbourhood.
The Kabul house where Zawahiri was living with his family when he was killed was reportedly owned by a close aide of Sirajuddin Haqqani, a notorious Islamist militant who is now the Taliban's interior minister.
There are reports Haqqani has fled Kabul to the remote Khost region in south-east Afghanistan.
Afghans warn US strike could inflame terrorism
Western leaders including US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are celebrating this killing as a defeat of terrorism in Afghanistan.
"Our thoughts today are with the loved ones of all of his victims. May they find some small solace in the knowledge that he cannot cause more grief through his acts of terror," Mr Albanese said on Tuesday.
"Let terrorists see that Afghanistan will never, ever be a safe haven for their hatred, their terrorism."
But those on the ground say this will inflame terrorism, and the US State Department has warned the killing could trigger more "anti-American violence".
"Following al-Zawahiri's death, supporters of Al Qaeda or its affiliated terrorist organizations may seek to attack US facilities, personnel, or citizens," the State Department said in an updated travel advisory.
"The department believes there is a higher potential for anti-American violence given the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri."
The Taliban has condemned the killing, saying it violates international principles and the 2020 peace deal struck when the US and other Western allies including Australia withdrew troops from Afghanistan.
"These are Al Qaeda operators, many of them foreign fighters from all over the world," Mr Asey said.
"In revenge, they could attack US interests and US allies in the region, in Afghanistan and beyond."
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, and the Islamist group formed ties with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
It gave the group a crucial base to launch several terrorist plots, culminating in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which left almost 3,000 people dead.
Al Qaeda reportedly paid $20 million a year to the Taliban for protection in Afghanistan at the time.
When the Taliban took over Afghanistan again in 2021, it declared itself a legitimate government that had learned from the mistakes of its previous generation of rulers.
Since then it has been seeking international recognition, but many now say Zawahiri's killing is the single-biggest hit to that pursuit since the Taliban took over.
"This is a big blow to the Taliban's international legitimacy … I think it has it has done irreparable damage," Mr Asey said.
"You have seen the US and others raising their concerns about the Taliban violating the High Court and hosting these high-profile terrorists."
Ali Maisam Nazary, from the National Resistance Fighters, the largest anti-Taliban insurgency left in Afghanistan, said terrorism was stronger now than it was in 2001 when Western forces invaded the country.
"The leadership of these terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, are in the country," he said.
"Taking down just one notorious terrorist like Zawahiri isn't going to end the global war on terror [and] isn't going to get rid of terrorism [in] Afghanistan."
The Biden administration was widely criticised for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 2021. That criticism was amplified when the Taliban regained the country shortly after.
The next Al Qaeda leader is waiting in the wings
Analysts say Zawahiri's killing via drone strike may be intended to show the US can still target terrorists without having a physical presence on the ground.
While the strike has taken out a key player in Al Qaeda and will no doubt affect the terror organisation, some contenders are already emerging to take over.
One includes Saif al-Adel, a low-key former Egyptian special forces officer who is wanted for $US10 million.
Adel was a member of bin Laden's security detail and helped bomb American embassies in the 90s while setting up training camps for Al Qaeda in Sudan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
"We are glad that a notorious terrorist has gone, a terrorist who terrorised Afghanistan's people and humanity as a whole for a few decades," Mr Nazary said.
"But Ayman al-Zawahiri is not the only one, and terrorists are inside Afghanistan. The threat of terrorism is going to grow in Afghanistan, and he's going to be replaced by another notorious terrorist."
