over the horizon operations, operating from bases outside of afghanistan. it seems they got a tip off, credible information, they said. there was even talk that president biden had been shown a mock up of the house and they had been studying it for the past three months. so very detailed, very painstaking operation. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera is here with more details. tell us a little bit more about why this man was such an important target for the united states. hugely im ortant, target for the united states. hugely important, emotionally, important, emotionally, symbolically, for the united states because he was so closely associated with the 9/11 attacks which killed thousands. he had been present at the creation of al-qaeda, he had been there from the start, the deputy to bin laden and then the success and the fact he had not been caught 20 years after 9/11 was significant so you could sense in joe biden s address last nightjust how important it was in that sense
the house that was targeted in the drone strike is just a few minutes away, but the taliban aren t allowing anyone to film nearby, insisting there s nothing to see, one even pointing his gun threateningly towards us a little earlier on. senior taliban figures must have agreed to al-qaeda s leader living here, but they have insisted in public the group no longer exists in afghanistan, so his death poses difficult questions. zawahiri was a veteran militant figure, involved in planning the 9/11 attacks alongside 0sama bin laden. president biden was present in the command centre when he was killed more than a decade ago, but he has also been heavily criticised for overseeing last year s chaotic troop withdrawal from afghanistan. this is now a major victory.
killed by an american drone strike in the afghan capital, kabul. ayman al zawahiri was one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks on america, and the top adviser to 0sama bin ladin. president biden said his death would help give closure to the families of the thousands of people killed in 2001. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani reports from kabul. one of america s most wanted. ayman al zawahiri, right hand man and successor to 0sama bin laden. this was the drone strike that american officials say killed him as he stood on the balcony at this family home in an upmarket kabul neighbourhood. we can hear debris still being cleared up, but then we are told to stop filming. we are in the centre of the city.
of the globaljihadi movement. the fact that the of the globaljihadi movement. the fact that the americans have of the globaljihadi movement. the fact that the americans have managed to do this, a big operation, worked out where he was, this is a major surveillance operation and the fact that they have managed to strike successfully from their perspective, will that unsettle the movement? the fact that that was possible, even post us withdrawal? and fact that that was possible, even post-us withdrawal? post-us withdrawal? and will definitely have post-us withdrawal? and will definitely have some - post-us withdrawal? and will definitely have some impact i post-us withdrawal? and will i definitely have some impact on post-us withdrawal? and will - definitely have some impact on the movement. however, let s not forget that one of the visions of 0sama bin laden was to create an organisation that did not need a leader at the top in orderfor the organisation that did not need a leader a
i think first, symbolically, it s really important for americans. we lost 3,000 innocent citizens that day to the 9/11 attacks, and so there s a sense of vengeance that i think a lot of americans, you know, not only those who work in national security felt, when the president announced zawahiri s death. more fundamentally for the group, it s a big blow because zawahiri has let the group since may 2011, after bin laden was killed. he s led al-qaeda through some turbulent times, including the arab spring revolutions, but also the rise of the islamic state in 2014. so without him, they ll be searching for a new leader, and i think there s a lot of uncertainty within the organisation at the moment. so who do you see as replacing him? is there any sort of definitive person or leader that could replace him? and how do you see them steering the al-qaeda? well, the conventional wisdom suggests that the egyptian jihadist, much like al zawahiri,