Ayman Al Zawahiri's assassination in Kabul this week is a major source of embarrassment for the Taliban, as it undermines the group’s pledge to not provide members of Al Qaeda, and networks like it, with a safe haven. It was one of the terms of the Doha Agreement, originally negotiated by former US president Donald Trump in 2020.
The Taliban's insistence on protecting Al Qaeda was the original reason that the US-led coalition launched its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks, which had been planned from Osama bin Laden’s base in Afghanistan. When the Taliban regime refused to cut its ties with the group, it was toppled from power.
The group, back in charge of Afghanistan since August last year, made a commitment two years ago not to co-operate with terror groups again. And it was this promise that persuaded US President Joe Biden to continue the Trump administration-initiated drawdown of American forces from the country.
That Al Zawahiri was discovered living in a safe house controlled by a key figure in the Taliban leadership in the centre of Afghanistan's capital, just a stone’s throw from the compound housing the American and British embassies, completely exposes the fallacy of the Taliban’s pledge.
The 71-year-old Al Zawahiri, regarded as the intellectual force behind Al Qaeda's movement, took over the group after US special forces assassinated Bin Laden in a safe house in Pakistan in 2011.
As Bin Laden’s long-serving deputy, he is said to have been involved in plotting numerous terrorist atrocities against western targets over several years, including the bombing of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, the September 11 attacks and the 2005 London bombings.
Just how many more Al Qaeda militants are living in safe houses in Kabul?
This meant Al Zawahiri topped the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, and had a $25 million bounty on his head for any information that could be used to kill or capture him. Thus, when the US's Central Investigation Agency discovered his whereabouts in Kabul this year, a complex assassination plan was immediately put into action.
According to briefings by US security officials on the operation, intelligence officers were initially alerted to Al Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul in the spring when they discovered that his wife, daughter and her children had been relocated to a safe house in the city. It then emerged that Al Zawahiri was in the same safe house.
Having acquired definitive evidence concerning his whereabouts, the intelligence agencies informed Mr Biden, who had insisted that, despite the chaos surrounding the US’s final withdrawal last year, it would continue its operations against militant leaders based in Afghanistan.
A small group of key intelligence officials, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, were brought into the decision-making process as the Biden administration weighed up its options. Throughout May and June, Mr Biden was updated several times on the mounting intelligence that confirmed Al Zawahiri was in hiding at the safe house.
Then, on July 1, the President was briefed in the Situation Room about the planned operation, a briefing in which he closely examined a scale model of the house Al Zawahiri was hiding out in. Mr Biden gave his final approval for the operation on Thursday last week.
Al Zawahiri was on the balcony of his hideout on Sunday when two Hellfire missiles were launched from an unmanned drone, killing him. His family was in another part of the house when the operation was carried out, and no one else was believed to have been killed in the operation. A CIA ground team and aerial reconnaissance conducted after the drone strike confirmed Al Zawahiri’s death.
The operation will certainly provide a boost for Mr Biden, who has faced bitter criticism, both at home and abroad, over his administration’s unimpressive handling of the Kabul withdrawal. Speaking after Al Zawahiri’s death had been confirmed, the beleaguered President said he believed that the killing delivered justice and hopefully “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
“He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens," Mr Biden said. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
At the time of his death, Al Zawahiri was said to be struggling to maintain Al Qaeda’s relevance in a changing Middle East. He had attempted, with limited success, to co-ordinate the wave of uprisings that spread across the Arab world in the spring of 2011, urging hardline Islamists to seize control.
Even so, US officials insist that Al Zawahiri had continued to be a dangerous figure, to the extent that he had continued to “provide strategic direction", including urging attacks on the US and encouraging his followers to view America as the movement’s “primary enemy".
His killing will have left the Taliban red-faced, given that Al Zawahiri was living in a house owned by a top aide to senior regime leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to US officials. Washington is also convinced that senior figures in the Afghanistan government were aware of Al Zawahiri’s presence.
If they are prepared to provide sanctuary to one of the world’s most wanted men, it begs the question just how many more Al Qaeda militants are living in safe houses in Kabul’s residential districts.
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Results:
5pm: Handicap (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,600 metres
Winner: Dasan Da, Saeed Al Mazrooei (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Saabah, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: Mukaram, Pat Cosgrave, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) | Dh80,000 | 2,200m
Winner: MH Tawag, Richard Mullen, Elise Jeanne
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) | Dh70,000 | 1,400m
Winner: RB Inferno, Fabrice Veron, Ismail Mohammed
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh100,000 | 1,600m
Winner: Juthoor, Jim Crowley, Erwan Charpy
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
BRIEF SCORES:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
SQUADS
South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
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Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
