Did Taliban betray US by hosting Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri?

Washington: Taliban, which has been crying for international recognition of its government in Afghanistan, has gained the spotlight once again after the US killed Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul. Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists and a mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, was killed in a drone strike carried out by the US in the Afghan’s capital city of Kabul on Saturday.

The reports said that US strategy to use the Taliban as an ally in the fight against terrorism has failed miserably as the Islamic Emirates made it clear that they cannot be trusted by hosting and sheltering Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. 

The Taliban might have played a good cop or bad cop with the US authorities or someone might have given up information on Zawahiri for the sake of the billion dollars frozen fund of Afghanistan. Greater terrorism might take place even though Zawahiri is dead in case the United States continues to treat the Taliban as a partner. 

Taliban has grossly violated the Doha Agreement by hosting and sheltering Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Monday (local time). 

"By hosting and sheltering the leader of al Qaeda in Kabul, the Taliban grossly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries," Blinken said in a statement.

The US and the Taliban signed the peace agreement in February 2020 under the Presidency of former US President Donald Trump. The deal stated the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghan soil and the Taliban would abate violence and guarantee that its soil will not be a safe haven for the terrorists.

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al-Zawahiri’s escalation through the years

Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11 and he also acted as Osama Bin Laden’s personal physician. Zawahiri, who had just turned 71, took over the leadership of Al-Qaeda after the US Forces hunted down Osama bin Laden in Jalalabad of Pakistan. 

11 years after Laden was killed, Zawahiri had become an international symbol of the group, and a global terrorist with a reward of USD 25 million on his head. The culmination of Zawahiri’s terror plotting came on September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and Pentagon. A fourth hijacked airliner, headed for Washington, crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. 

His whereabouts were a mystery for several years but he was believed to be hiding along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In January 2006, the US had earlier tried to kill Zawahiri in a missile strike near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. The attack killed four al-Qaeda members, but Zawahiri survived and appeared on video two weeks later, warning US President George W Bush that neither he nor "all the powers on earth" could bring his death "one second closer".

Zawahiri’s targeted killing comes a year after the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

The US President said that justice has been delivered, adding, "No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the US will find you and take you out."