The leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan on Sunday. The US president, Joe Biden, announced the death on Monday evening in an address to the nation.
Who was Zawahiri?
The 71-year-old Egyptian-born veteran had been an underground militant since he was a teenager in Cairo. He first travelled to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviet Union.
Zawahiri orchestrated suicide bombings over several decades and had become one of the world’s most wanted men. After Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals during a 2011 raid in Pakistan, Zawahiri became the head of al-Qaida and the public face of the global militant group.
How did the US find him?
Until al-Qaida released a video of Zawahiri in April, many had speculated the ageing leader was already dead. The footage was the first evidence in more than a year that he was alive, although his location was not publicly known.
A US official said Zawahiri had been spotted on a Kabul balcony on numerous occasions over the past several months – likely from the air – and he continued to produce al-Qaida propaganda videos. Biden made the decision to assassinate Zawahiri last week.
When was the strike carried out?
The strike happened at 9.48pm Eastern Time on Saturday (Sunday morning in Kabul) by an unmanned aerial vehicle – a drone – while Zawahiri was on the terrace.
What is the relationship between al-Qaida and the Taliban?
Al-Qaida and the Taliban have a deeply entangled relationship that stretches back decades – sometimes cooperating and sometimes clashing.
The 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan demolished al-Qaida’s safe haven, and Zawahiri rebuilt the group in the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Last year, when the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal, Taliban officials pledged to restrain al-Qaida.
So why was Zawahiri in Kabul?
Despite Taliban promises, a UN report released last month and based on intelligence supplied by member states said al-Qaida had established a haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban and “increased freedom of action”.
The report said al-Qaida members were living in Kabul’s former diplomatic quarter – the same area where Zawahiri was killed.
A senior US official told reporters on Monday that the Taliban took action after the strike to conceal Zawahiri’s presence at the location, moving swiftly to remove his wife, daughter and her children to another location. It is not clear if they took his body.
What happens next?
The strike is likely to lead to greater short-term disarray within al-Qaida than when Bin Laden was killed since it is less clear who will be Zawahiri’s successor. The assassination will also be seen as proof of the US’s ability to conduct remote “over-the-horizon” operations, despite last year’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
However, the strike is unlikely to weaken al-Qaida significantly over the long run as there are several figures who could take over.
