The U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri on the balcony of a Kabul safe house intensified global scrutiny Tuesday of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and further undermined their efforts to secure international recognition and desperately needed aid.
The Taliban had promised in the 2020 Doha Agreement on the terms of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan [which was negotiated by the Trump Administration] that they would not harbor al-Qaida members or those seeking to attack the U.S.
Yet a mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, who has called for striking the United States in numerous video messages in recent years, lived for months apparently sheltered by senior Taliban figures.
The safe house where al-Zawahri was staying in Kabul’s upscale Shirpur neighborhood was the home of a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official. Haqqani is deputy head of the Taliban, serves as interior minister in its government and heads the Haqqani network, a powerful faction within the movement.
It is risible that the Taliban is claiming that the strike violated the Doha Agreement whicle ignoring the fact that sheltering al-Zawahri in the house of a high government official's aide in a wealthy section of Kabul also violated the Agreement.
"We want your aid, but we're going to continue to shelter terrorists." ... good luck selling that message.
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