According to Ambassador Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, family members of the Haqqani group were also killed in the US drone strike on al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
on 9/11. some of the leaders of the taliban today were leaders on 9/11. they ve appointed a member of the haqqani family, who is a global terrorist, to be interior minister. so there s not much question in my mind that al qaeda is going to find safe haven. we re going to see isis continuing to develop there in afghanistan. and the haqqanis are basically terrorists themselves. so i think it s going to be very important for the military and for our intelligence to be able to keep track of how these terrorists develop and to be able to identify potential targets if we have to conduct counterterrorism operations against those that threaten our country. i should note, secretary panetta, that as you were speaking there, we heard them