US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday that President Joe Biden was to be commended for the elimination of the leader of the al-Qaeda terror group, Ayman al-Zawahri.
“President Biden announced that, at his direction, the United States killed Ayman al-Zawahri: a top leader of al-Qaeda, an enemy of America and one of the masterminds behind the attacks on September 11th. The President is to be commended for his strong leadership to keep Americans safe and to deliver justice to this despicable terrorist,” Pelosi said.
She added that the United States was determined to “hunt down terrorists” who pose a threat to Americans and that the counterterrorism capabilities of the country were unrivaled.
Biden said on Monday that an al-Qaeda chief was killed in a US air strike in Afghanistan on Saturday. On Tuesday, the US State Department accused the Taliban of violating the 2020 Doha deal, under which the Islamist group promised to never harbor terrorists in return for US military pullout from Afghanistan. The Taliban in turn reportedly condemned the attack as a violation of international principles and the Doha deal.
