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Zawahiri's killing by US a violation of Doha Agreement, says Taliban
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed on July 30 in a targeted drone attack by the CIA in Kabul, Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden announced on Monday.
In its first statement on the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Asian country's ruling Taliban regime described the development as a ‘clear violation’ of the Doha Agreement between the group and the United States of America.
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“The Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms and considers it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the regime's spokesperson said in a statement in Pashto.
Mujahid, Afghanistan's deputy minister of information and culture under the current, Islamist group-led administration, also had a word of caution for Washington over any future operation of similar kind on Afghan soil.
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“The action is against the interests of the United States of America and Afghanistan. Any future repetition may harm existing opportunities,” the statement read.
Zawahiri, a 71-year-old Egyptian national, succeeded Osama bin Laden as al-Qaeda's head after the latter was killed by the US Navy Seals in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011. His own death took place in a house owned by senior Taliban leader and Afghanistan's interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani.
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While the operation to eliminate Zawahiri was conducted on July 30, it was confirmed by US President Joe Biden only on Monday evening (local time) in a national address from the White House. In his speech, Biden underlined, among other things, that no civilian – as well as family members of the terrorist leader – was harmed during the strike.
