Taliban say al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri’s body not found

Kabul, Aug 25 (EFE).- The Taliban government said Thursday that they have not yet found the body of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was allegedly killed in a drone attack by the United States in Kabul towards the end of last July.

“The investigation is continuing and the result has been not finalized, also we haven’t found any dead body there, because due to rocket attack the target is completely destroyed and we haven’t seen anything there,” Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said at a press conference.

US President Joe Biden announced on Aug.1 that the al-Qaeda leader had been killed in an American anti-terrorist drone operation in Kabul that bombed al-Zawahiri’s residence when he was in the balcony.

According to the White House, al-Zawahiri had moved with his family to Kabul earlier this year from Pakistan, where his predecessor, Osama bin Laden, had been killed in another US operation in 2011.

The presence of al-Zawahiri on Afghan soil would be in violation of the Doha agreement signed by the Taliban in February 2020 with the US, which led to the departure of US troops from the country after two decades of conflict.

In this regard, Mujahid underlined that the issue of US unmanned aerial vehicles patrolling through Afghanistan “has been discussed at the highest level with them in meetings.”

The departure of the US almost a year ago came in exchange for, among other things, security guarantees that Afghanistan would not be used as a sanctuary for terrorists.

Since coming to power a little over a year ago, the Taliban government has sought recognition from the international community, while the country is experiencing a severe economic and humanitarian crisis as a result of the end of foreign aid and freezing of its assets abroad. EFE

lk-mvg/sc