In a statement, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, praised the efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden, following the announcement of the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a US raid in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
“The Biden administration has dealt a serious blow to the al-Qaeda network,” Menendez said. “I commend President Biden, our brave intelligence officers, and our military for remaining vigilant and ready to protect our national security interests to eliminate terrorist threats.”
“One year after our military withdrew from Afghanistan, there is no doubt that the United States and our allies must maintain the ability to gather intelligence and conduct counterterrorism operations against those like Al-Zawahiri who pose a real and continuing threat to our national security,” he added.
“I look forward to receiving more details about this process from the Biden administration in the coming days,” he said.
“It’s a great day for America when the al Qaeda leader is eliminated,” said Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, adding, “I commend the security and intelligence professionals who bravely carried out this operation.”
But McCaul sharply criticized the Biden administration, accusing it of “lying” to the American people and carrying out a “chaotic and dead withdrawal” from Afghanistan, saying that this “opened the door for al-Qaeda to operate freely inside the country to conduct foreign operations against the United States and our allies once again.”
Biden officially announced the killing of al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a US raid carried out in Afghanistan, and said that it was “carefully planned to avoid civilian casualties.”
Biden said that Al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike “without the presence of American forces on the ground,” adding that the operation “was prepared and executed with great accuracy.”
He added: “I gave the permission to kill Al-Zawahiri after our intelligence managed to locate him, as he moved to the center of Kabul (the Afghan capital) to meet with members of his family.”
He stressed that “after carefully reviewing the information, I declared the exact strike that would take him out of the battlefield, once and for all.”
“None of his family members or any other civilians were harmed by the strike,” he added.
He explained that “anyone who threatens the Americans, no matter how long it takes, no matter where he hides, the United States will find him and get rid of him.”
The US President stressed that Washington “will not allow Afghanistan to become a platform for launching attacks against the United States.”
He added, “We did not seek this war against the terrorists, but they came to us.”
Biden said he hoped Zawahiri’s killing would help the families of the 9/11 victims “turn the page.”
Biden addressed the relatives of the victims, saying, “I hope this decisive action will allow them to turn the page” on these attacks planned by al-Qaeda and its leader at the time, Osama bin Laden, who was succeeded by al-Zawahiri.
Al-Zawahiri assumed the leadership of al-Qaeda in 2011 after the killing of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks in the United States, which killed three thousand civilians.