White House touts al-Zawahiri killing as vindicating Biden’s decision to leave Afghanistan

The White Home on Tuesday continued to focus on what it stated was President Joe Biden’s “success” in killing Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda chief concerned within the planning the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults, saying it “has undoubtedly made the USA safer.”

Nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan additionally stated on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the strike vindicated Biden’s controversial and chaotic withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan final August.

“It has confirmed the president proper when he stated one 12 months in the past that we didn’t have to maintain 1000’s of American troops in Afghanistan combating and dying in a 20-year conflict to have the ability to maintain terrorists in danger and to defeat threats to the USA,” Sullivan stated.

The White Home additionally launched a brand new {photograph} it stated confirmed Biden within the State of affairs Room on July 1 getting briefed briefed on the proposed operation by CIA director William Burns and being proven a mannequin of the secure home the place al-Zawahiri was hiding.

A White Home official later confirmed to ABC Information that the closed picket field on the desk within the {photograph} contained the dimensions mannequin of the home.

When Biden introduced al-Zawahiri’s demise on Monday in an handle from the White Home, he said “justice has been delivered” and he made a degree of claiming he had been cautious earlier than approving the strike that no civilians could be killed.

A U.S. official confirmed to ABC Information that the CIA carried out the operation.

A separate senior administration official stated Monday there was no indication of anybody else harmed by the 2 Hellfire missiles fired from a drone, missiles with rotating blades that use kinetic power to kill, totally different from giant explosions, to restrict collateral injury.

However with no U.S. forces on the bottom, it was unclear how the administration may very well be sure of that.

Al-Zawahiri was killed at roughly 9:48 p.m. on July 30 on the balcony of his secure home in downtown Kabul after months of planning amongst varied components of the counterterrorism neighborhood, a senior administration official advised reporters Monday.

Biden was first briefed on al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts again in April, the official advised reporters, and acquired updates on the event of the goal all through Might and June.

Biden convened a number of different conferences along with his key advisers and Cupboard members within the weeks that adopted to fastidiously scrutinize the intelligence and consider one of the best plan of action, the official stated.

A closing assembly was held on July 25, throughout which Biden approved the strike.

The White Home picture of Biden was harking back to an analogous picture of President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton within the State of affairs Room watching the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Whereas this most up-to-date strike was largely applauded by members of Congress, Republicans centered on what they referred to as Biden’s “disastrous withdrawal” from Afghanistan that they are saying reopened the door for al-Qaeda within the nation.

“It’s noteworthy the place [al-Zawahiri] was in Kabul,” Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., stated in a ground speech on Tuesday. “So, al-Qaeda is again on account of the Taliban being again in energy and describing the present state of affairs in Afghanistan as a hit is totally absurd.”

McConnell stated the “precipitous resolution” to take away U.S. troops from Afghanistan has “produced the return of the circumstances that have been there earlier than 9/11.”

Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is demanding an instantaneous intelligence briefing for Congress on the “potential reemergence” of the terrorist group. Rep. Mike McCaul, who sits on the Home Overseas Affairs Committee, went as far as to say Biden lied to the American individuals when he stated final 12 months al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan.

Sullivan pushed again on the criticism on “Good Morning America,” stating the drone strike is proof the U.S. can proceed to go after its enemies “over the horizon” with out endangering American service members.

“There may be not a single American in hurt’s manner in that nation in uniform and there was no one on the bottom in uniform when this strike occurred and but we have been capable of take Ayman al-Zawahiri off the battlefield,” Sullivan advised GMA co-anchor George Stephanopoulos. “I might name {that a} profitable, efficient coverage that protects our troops, protects our individuals and ensures that Afghanistan won’t be a secure haven for terrorists.”

However questions stay about how the U.S. will reply to the Taliban’s actions in sheltering al-Zawahiri. Senior members of the Taliban have been conscious of his presence in Kabul this 12 months, the senior administration official advised reporters Monday.

The official additionally stated Haqqani Taliban members took actions after the airstrike to hide al-Zawahiri’s presence on the location and acted rapidly to take away al-Zawahiri’s spouse, his daughter and her kids to a different location in line with a broader effort to cowl up that that they had been dwelling within the secure home.

Sullivan stated the U.S. is in direct communication with the Taliban however didn’t reveal any specifics on how precisely the Taliban might be held accountable.

White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby additionally declined to supply further particulars on what particular steps the U.S. will take to carry the Taliban accountable throughout Tuesday’s press briefing, however stated the “strike itself reveals how severe we’re about accountability.”

“It reveals how severe we’re about defending our pursuits,” Kirby added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Monday the Taliban “grossly” violated the Doha Settlement by sheltering al-Zawahiri. Within the 2020 settlement, the Taliban stated they would not harbor al-Qaeda members.

“Additionally they betrayed the Afghan individuals and their very own said need for recognition from and normalization with the worldwide neighborhood,” Blinken stated. “Within the face of the Taliban’s unwillingness or lack of ability to abide by their commitments, we are going to proceed to assist the Afghan individuals with sturdy humanitarian help and to advocate for the safety of their human rights, particularly of ladies and women.”

Regardless of the Taliban’s sheltering of al-Zawahiri, Kirby advised ABC Information Chief White Home Correspondent Cecilia Vega that Afghanistan will “by no means” develop into a secure haven for terrorists.

“In the event you have been to ask the members of al-Qaeda, ask them how secure they really feel in Afghanistan proper now,” Kirby stated. “I feel we proved … this weekend that it is not a secure haven and it is not going to be going ahead.”

ABC Information’ Ben Gittleson, Trish Turner, Allison Pecorin and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.