Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s deputy and successor and the world most wanted terrorist who eluded capture and death for more than 20 years, all of a sudden, on the early hours of July 31, appeared at the balcony of his Kabul villa, unguarded and unsuspecting. Seconds later, he was dead — ripped apart by what has been described as a very advanced and secretive US-made missile, the ‘Hellfire R9X’, also known as the “knife bomb” as it doesn’t contain explosives, instead it uses ‘rapidly spinning blades’ to kill its target.
The knife bomb was launched by a CIA-operated drone. Joe Biden has finally got his trophy hit and claimed victory. “Justice has been delivered,” he told the American people on that morning. You see, every American president must have his trophy hit, often in the Middle East. George W. Bush got Saddam Hussain in 2003; Barack Obama got Bin Laden in 2011, Donald Trump got Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Al Zawahiri might not be of the same ruthlessness calibre as the others; most of us seem to have forgotten about him years ago, but nevertheless his killing represents, as many US analysts insist, sort of an appropriate closure to the horrific terror attacks on September 11, 2001. The administration also reiterated that his killing was another ‘victory’ for America in its war against terror. Is it?
Al Zawahiri was minor, unfinished business
Let us see. In the usual Hollywood crime movies, there is a term often used by assassins — ‘tie up loose ends’, which means according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “to complete the parts of something that have not been completed” — to take care of some minor, unfinished business. Al Zawahiri was minor, unfinished business all right. Why now?
For those who have not been paying attention lately, the US is currently busy tying up all loose ends in this part of the world, good and bad. In the latest risk estimate of the National Security Council, which influenced in a great deal the recently updated ‘Strategic Concept’ of Nato, it is made very clear that the main threat to the west in the next 10 years will come from China and Russia.
The world, and the Arab world, in particular, will be relieved to see more of those extremist terrorists vanish. But that begs a serious question: is the Taliban a better alternative?
In that context, the US is therefore disengaging the Middle East, reducing its some 60 years of involvement in the politics of the Middle East, in order to redeploy its diplomatic and military resources towards the new target, Russia and China. The Ukraine war and the recent standoff with China over Taiwan offered the US a plentiful to deal with. But before leaving the Middle East, the administration needed to tie up those loose ends.
For example, the Iran deal seems to be approaching its final chapter. The Europeans talk of a new deal in a few weeks. Tehran knows that the US is very eager to conclude a deal; hence its leaders are taking their time. The US seems happy to remove all sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Iran despite the continuing transgressions by Iran.
Afghanistan was a major headache for the US for nearly three decades, ever since the Soviets left in 1989. The chaotic country with its unforgiving terrain provided an ideal safe haven for terror groups, mainly Al Qaeda, responsible for the heinous attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, and hundreds of other bloody attacks in the region, Europe and Africa. And since the US invasion that followed those attacks, the country was entirely occupied and controlled by the US — for the better part of the past two decades. The US left this month, last year, after a deal with Taliban, called the Doha Agreement, which allowed the extremist movement to take over Afghanistan in a surprisingly swift and almost bloodless military advance.
We may never know the terms of the Doha Agreement, but the killing of Al Zawahiri and a few days later Omar Khalid Khorasani, a senior commander of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan may offer some clues to why the US had suddenly abandoned its proxy government in Kabul and fled the country in such a chaotic way as the Taliban moved in a way that stunned the world.
For 20 years, the terrorist leader of Al Qaeda eluded US efforts to capture or kill him. Then, the Taliban take over Afghanistan and form a government. The next day, Al Zawahiri is a sitting duck. That is something to contemplate, seriously. No tears will be shed for Al Zawahiri. He was personally responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people. He was a vicious leader of a group that tried to hijack a peaceful religion.
His death, however, may point to a deal between the US and the Taliban that would allow the CIA to take care of unfinished business that had otherwise been a very challenging task. The world, and the Arab world, in particular, will be relieved to see more of those extremist terrorists vanish. But that begs a serious question: is the Taliban a better alternative? An extremist group that has a very rigid view of Islam is ebbing given all the resources of a state. Will that make our world safer? Time will tell. But so far, the signs are not very promising.
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