Bin Laden’s Successor, Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Dies In Drone Strike

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Osama Bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is dead after a successful U.S. drone operation.

Al-Zawahiri has been leading the terrorist group al-Qaeda since June 2011.

The CIA carried out the drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Ayman Al Zawahiri was seen in a video last year commemorating 20 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The official Twitter account of the Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban, also confirmed the drone strike occurred.

“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant al Qaeda target in Afghanistan,” a senior U.S. official said. “The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties.”

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The Biden administration closed the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and withdrew all military assets from Afghanistan on Aug. 31, 2021, ending the United States’ longest war.

President Biden, at the time, defended pulling out of Afghanistan by claiming al Qaeda was gone.

“What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?” Biden said on Aug. 20, 2021. “We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as — as well as getting Osama bin Laden. And we did.”

But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, last September, warned lawmakers that terror groups like al Qaeda may be able to grow much faster following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.