President Biden on Monday claimed that a US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that was carried out over the weekend killed top al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Biden said that US intelligence located Zawahiri earlier this year and that he moved to downtown Kabul to “reunite with members of his immediate family.” Biden said he authorized the drone strike last week.
Administration officials told the media that the drone strike was launched by the CIA. It’s the first known US drone strike in Afghanistan since the US completed the withdrawal from the country on August 30, 2021.
Biden claimed that no civilians were killed in the strike, but the US is known for undercounting civilian casualties. The last known US drone strike in Afghanistan occurred on August 29, 2021, and killed 10 civilians, including seven children. Initially, the US military claimed the strike killed ISIS-K members and described it as “righteous.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Monday that a US drone strike hit a residence in Kabul over the weekend. Mujahid strongly condemned the strike, saying it violated the Doha agreement the US and Taliban signed that paved the way for the US withdrawal.
Zawahiri was the successor to Osama bin Laden and served as the al-Qaeda founders’ number two during the planning of the September 11 attacks. During Washington’s almost 20-year war in Afghanistan, Zawahiri eluded US forces. The UN said in 2021 that Zawahiri was believed to be somewhere in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan
Before the September 11 attacks, the Taliban offered the US to put bin Laden on trial. After the attacks, President George W. Bush rejected an offer from the Taliban to hand bin Laden over.
“After the attacks, President George W. Bush rejected an offer from the Taliban to hand bin Laden over.”
I don’t remember any offer by the Taliban to hand him over. It flies in the face of everything we were told that I remember. Does anyone else here find this statement totally inconsistent with what we were told…?????
no, that is a load of BS
I’m not sure what you mean by “what we were told.”
It was a news story on every broadcast and cable news network: When the US demanded that the Taliban hand over bin Laden, the Taliban cheerfully agreed upon presentation of evidence that he had committed a crime, even though there was no US-Afghan extradition treaty requiring them to hand him over at all.
And George W. Bush said, in effect, “f*ck you, we don’t have to prove anything, do as you’re told or we’ll invade.”
Oh, naive me. I should realized that getting anything faintly resembling the straight story on anything that happened with that attack is not remotely possible. I guess asking for evi dence would be an offensive and insulting thing for the shrub who did not even stand up when told that planes had crashed into the building. No he just sat there twisting his face to try to look concerned. What a guy! But if you were in a small town barber shop, and news came that that the town hall was on fire, and the Fire chief was sitting there, but did not stand up, it would cause quite scandal. Not so in this case…!!!!!
U can’t blame him. He is an idiot and was lost without his handlers telling him what to do. Blame American people for voting in a dumb person.
Every single thing about Dubya’s body language, facial expressions and (non) actions indicated that he knew damn well it was going to happen.
Experts in just about every field imaginable said it couldn’t possibly have happened the way the guvvmint told us gullible Murkins that it did.
Like the assassination of JFK, we will NEVER get the truth from those officials who continuously attempt to brainwash us with simplified “explanations “.
Just a modifier; I believe the Taliban actually offered to hand him over to the world court, not the US, for trial. Which actually makes sense; you don’t hand the accused over to the accuser, you hand him over to a presumably impartial authority to ensure he gets a fair trial. But the US was and is terrified of what might come out if the full OBL story was ever told in an impartial venue – which is why they murdered – err, “assassinated” him rather than bring him to trial.
The exact quote, from memory, is “They must not have heard, there’s no negotiations”, which is one of the reasons I refer to GWJr as our bloodsoaked manchild president.
The Taliban made an offer to turn him over contingent upon the US sharing the intel that proved he was behind the attacks. The US refused to share that intel, so the Taliban refused to hand him over. This was not uncommon knowledge to people who use sources beyond the likes of CNN and FOX.
Yeah correct, but to chacterize that offer as an offer “to hand him over” is a gross and misleading exageration.
“It would mark the first known US drone strike in Afghanistan since the US completed its withdrawal on August 30, 2021.”
I believe the last one was a revenge killing that wasted a family of 10. Little children turned into pink mist instantaneously courtesy of Joe Biden. Maybe we should wait to hear if any families were vanished on Sunday before believing those claims of killing yet another top leader of al Qaeda. By the way, I believe we’ve killed more leaders than there were original members. And we still haven’t fucking won???
Yep, glad somebody remembers that incident. The article provides this lovely little understatement: “but the US is known for undercounting civilian casualties.”
“Undercounting”; another word about “intentionally denying and lying” about the results
So it is only the US that can MURDER anyone with impunity. Anyone else who does so is a TERRORIST.
For the Taliban Osama bin Laden was primarily their paymaster.
if uncle sam actually pulled out of afghanistan as was claimed then how did uncle sam know where the #1 al qaeda guy was hiding. oh i know, there are giant bill-board signs every 2 miles like there used to be in the arizona desert = ONLY 10 MILES TO THE AL-QAEDA GUY! …. ONLY 5 MILES TO THE AL_QAEDA GUY! ….. AL-QAEDA GUY NEXT EXIT!
Kind of like those roadside signs that used to advertise a brand of shave cream, PN 😉
Now that was humorous picturing those signs. Well done.
They have good signit and also informers they spent decades building networks and Afghanistan in such dire straight it is easy to recruit people.
I’m sure if you drive around Afghanistan long enough you’ll run across billboards for Alexander Shunnarah “Call Me, Afghanistan!” (Those of you who live in the South- AL, GA, MS, FL, LA- will probably get it :D)
Amerikkka “claims” a lot of things, like “getting” bin Laden. I don’t believe that tall tale for one second.
Assuming that bin Laden was still alive after years of dialysis ( which would probably have made him the world’s longest-living dialysis patient), why would his “captors” have thrown him into the sea?
They wouldn’t have. They’d have brought him back to Amerikkka to parade around as a prize and initiate a sensational trial.
Why anyone bought this load of sh*t is beyond me. Just a false pat on the back for the Amerikkkan regime.
This seems to be a false news for Biden and DemoRats midterm PR…! Or, US apparently striked the al Qaeda members that they airlifted from Syria and Iraq into Afghanistan a couple of years ago…!
“Assuming that bin Laden was still alive after years of dialysis”
While supposedly living in caves!!
The last thing the neocons wanted, was any judicial inquiry onto what happened on that tragic day in N.Y. We are seeing such reluctance now as those who are latigation the Saudis encounter the stone wall of noncoperation that has been erected by classification, denial & obfuscation, and to cover up the whole embarrassing episode.
The Seymour Hersch book has the Pakistani Military and Intel handing him over for the cowardly coup de gras, … a gift of great theatre for US Seals & Barry Obama (the great Constitutional scholar and professor and inspiration for all people of color, ….). Classic US Military action against helpless enemy.
The evidence that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaida were behind the September 11 attacks is very weak.
ObL’s murder suggests the evidence, if there is any, would be insufficient to convict.
Hmmm , I wonder how the “Dancing Israelis” knew it was going to happen.,.
What makes you think they DID “know it was going to happen?” Dancing after something starts happening is not itself evidence of advance knowledge that it was going to happen.
On the other hand, the late Justin Raimondo, in The Terror Enigma: 9/11 and the Israeli Connection, made a good case for likely Israeli foreknowledge. How much, and whether it was shared with the US, would be interesting things to know.
Well, there ya go, Thomas.
Who would you be more likely to believe; Justin Raimondo or the US guvvmint?
Raimondo, every time.
But Israeli intelligence having foreknowledge of the attacks would not itself be evidence that a particular group of people who saw the attacks and had a dance were acting from foreknowledge rather than impromptu.
My recollection is that Justin was even harder on logical fallacies than I am, and tried to avoid e.g. non sequitur errors.
He is lying.
Great job. Thanks to the men and women who made this possible.
Geez Don, this wasn’t about Ukraine. You don’t have to be the big dick all the time. You can’t possibly buy into our war on terror.
I’m all in. I fought Al Qaeda and other idiots in different theaters. With this guy is personal and having him out is vindication. He would have you beheaded in no time just cause you are an American, period. I know our foreign policies have gotten us a lot of enemies, but they will still come after us even if we drastically change them in their favor. And if that makes me a big dick, then thank you. I accept the compliment.
Vindication my ass. This guy will be replaced tomorrow. And I haven’t heard of any Americans being beheaded here. If we decided to defend the US, they are no more a worry than a mosquito. And it wasn’t a compliment and after reading your lame reply, I mean it more.
So you confess to being a war criminal
It appears Don Bacon has ditched that pseudonym to becum, you guessed it, “Don Julio” I haven’the seen his “alpaca” appearence either for quite awhile.
Do you need a hug or someone to talk to? I’ll give you a call and we can chat.
Don Julio isn’t Don Bacon.
The real Don Bacon posts on Moon of Alabama. The one who frequents this website is Don Fakin’. 😉
I always wondered what the hell a Lemony Alpaca” was.
An alpaca who loves lemons, obviously.
That’s hilarious. I’m not Don. Either one of them.
CIA trailer trash.
Doing his patent Clint Eastwood, Joe Biden promised to “find and kill anyone who hurts Americans” (paraphrase), … i.e., unless it’s ( Rachel Corrie, Shireen or Saudi, US Liberty, …
What is evidence that Zawiri has been directly involved in planning and/or financing terrorist activities to qualify him as a drone strike target? What has he done other than release videos and audios criticizing the US government and its foreign policy?
We had “righteous intel info” that “proves” his guilt beyond the shadow of a doubt, but we can’t tell you what it is because it’s “classified”.
What is the evidence that he has NOT been directly involved in planning and/or financing terrorist activities?
What evidence would you like, troll?
How would that work?
Proves 2 things.
A faction of taliban r morons
There is no uighur genocide in China in any shape or form, taliban fought a superpower against overwhelming odds with nothing but very limited resources, the only way it can be done is genuine belief on the cause and people who believe so genuinely on this cannot try to establish deep trading relationships with people who r committing genocide on fellow Muslims. Also taliban has up to date info in Xinjiang and will get the most negative view by their uighur fellow combatants
“Biden claimed that no civilians were killed in the strike, but the US is known for undercounting civilian casualties. The last known US drone strike in Afghanistan occurred on August 29, 2021, and killed 10 civilians, including seven children. Initially, the US military claimed the strike killed ISIS-K members and described it as “righteous.””
That tells you all you need to know right there. MAYBE they got Zawahiri, and MAYBE they didn’t; and MAYBE they didn’t kill any civilians, but MAYBE they did. You can’t believe a word these clowns say; the more stars they wear, and the greater their influence, the more they lie. “Righteous Strike” Milley will swear on his mother’s grave that we “got” Zawahiri, until it’s proven we didn’t.
BUT, what I fail to understand is, under what possible justification does the US claim to have the “right” to assassinate [or murder, because it’s the same thing] a noncombatent, without provocation or any due process, in a nation which has not granted us any permission to operate in, just because “we have intel that says he’s guilty”? One of these days another nation will operate a drone in OUR airspace, and kill an “enemy” in downtown Cleveland or some other city, using missiles that risk murdering dozens of innocent bystanders, and then gloat about the righteousness of their strike on TV. Would love to see the reactions of the US press, military, state department and congress when THAT happens.
I believe the phrase you’re looking for is “rules based order”. Like law, only different. I liked to refer to Obama is the Lyncher in Chief.
Would this be used as an excuse for attacking the current government in Afghanistan or more sanctions?!