“Justice has been delivered,” he declared, “and this terrorist chief is not any extra.”
The remarks, which lasted roughly 10 minutes, hailed the top of a decadeslong mission to search out al-Zawahri, whom he mentioned the intelligence group had positioned in Kabul earlier this yr. Biden mentioned he gave last approval for a precision strike final week, when it was decided that situations had been “optimum.”
There have been no civilian casualties, he added.
“Folks all over the world not have to concern the vicious and decided killer,” Biden mentioned. “The USA continues to display our resolve and our capability to defend the American folks in opposition to those that search to do us hurt. We make it clear once more tonight that irrespective of how lengthy it takes, irrespective of the place you disguise — if you’re a menace to our folks, the USA will discover you and take you out.”
Previous accounts of profitable operations that killed leaders of terrorist organizations have subsequently been revised and amended. However, Biden positioned the killing of al-Zawahri within the context of a bigger, equally profitable counterterrorism marketing campaign that his administration was waging, noting that earlier this yr, American forces had taken out ISIS chief Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in Syria.
Al-Zawahri, who Biden famous was answerable for the usCole assault in October 2000 and the assaults on the World Commerce Middle in 2001, took over the terrorist group after the U.S. killed al Qaeda’s longtime chief, Osama bin Laden, underneath the Obama administration in 2011. The scene on the White Home on Monday night time was harking back to President Barack Obama’s solemn announcement of bin Laden’s killing greater than a decade in the past.
The strike in opposition to al-Zawahri, which occurred over the weekend, marks a separate, seminal achievement on the international coverage entrance for Biden, who had been accused of opposing the bin Laden raid in actual time (contemporaneous reporting steered he didn’t oppose the raid however steered extra time and work was wanted to guarantee it could be successful).
As president, Biden has overseen a largely profitable however nonetheless drawn-out marketing campaign to assist Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion. And he has mended fences with Western nations after Donald Trump’s presidency disrupted the worldwide order.
However his file had been marred by a bloody and messy withdrawal from Afghanistan final summer time, after 20 years of U.S. navy involvement there. Biden had defended that call from the place that U.S. targets weren’t served from having an on-the-ground footprint in that nation. Nonetheless, the dealing with of it dogged him politically, coinciding together with his slide in public opinion polls.
On Monday, he immediately addressed the notion that the U.S. might keep its safety from threats in Afghanistan with out bodily being there.
Al-Zawahri “is gone and we’re going to ensure that nothing else occurs,” Biden mentioned. “It could’t be a launching pad in opposition to the USA. We’re going to see to it that doesn’t occur.”
