On 1 August 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri — the leader of al-Qaeda — in a 30 July drone strike in the upscale Sherpur neighborhood of the capital Kabul. There were no civilian casualties in the strike. U.S. officials believe the Taliban were harboring al-Zawahiri in violation of an agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban regime.
Analyst Comment: Ayman Al-Zawahiri had led al-Qaeda since the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011 and was suspected of involvement in organizing and plotting numerous terrorist attacks — including the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the October 2000 bombing of the navy ship USS Cole off the Yemeni coast. Additionally, in 1999 al-Zawahiri was indicted in the U.S. for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
