To begin with, the Taliban has damned the assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri by the United States in an exactitude drone attack in the centre of Kabul. The assassination of al-Zawahiri, who was an Egyptian surgical expert who had a $25m remuneration on his lead for the September 11, 2001 strikes, is the most significant squander to the arms equipped assemble since its institutor Osama bin Laden was assassinated in 2011.
Meanwhile, in a declaration made on Tuesday, the group condemned the attack to be a comprehensible contravention of international propositions and the Doha Agreement, the 2020 treaty gesticulated by the Taliban and the US that facilitated the conclusion of international drives from Afghanistan. The attack was executed out on a familial house in the Sherpur area of Kabul, a consular locality where many Taliban leaders live now, Taliban chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid retorted in the declaration.
Mujahid gives statements
Subsequently, “such actions are a reiteration of the malfunctioning occurrences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the US, Afghanistan and the region,” Mujahid retorted. The drone attack is the first known US strike inside Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country after a Taliban takeover of the government in August 2021.
Moreover, the move may bolster the credibility of Washington’s assurances that the US can still address threats from Afghanistan without a military presence in the country.
Taliban states violation of Doha agreement
In conclusion, the al-Qaeda leader’s death also elevated interrogation about whether he sustained sanctuary from the Taliban following the Kabul takeover. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, accused the Taliban of “hosting and sheltering” the al-Qaeda leader in Kabul and flagrantly contravening the Doha Agreement. “In the face of the Taliban’s disinclination or inability to keep up by their commitments, we will continue to support the Afghan people with vigorous magnanimous abetment and to advocate for the protection of their human rights, especially of women and girls,” Blinken retorted in a statement.
