WAS AL QAEDA'S AYMAN AL ZAWAHIRI COMPROMISED BY INSIDERS?

'Details of Zawahiri hiding in plain sight were shared from within Kabul after which the US intelligence got into the picture'.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

The killing of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri, who was eliminated in a drone strike by the American forces at 7.18 am (IST) in the morning of 31 July, came days after he released his last video in which he spoke on India-related issues, including the Hijab controversy.The said video was made public on 6 April by pro-Al Qaeda social media accounts.

As per reports, this is the same time when the inputs about Zawahiri being present in Kabul was first confirmed by officials tracking him in Washington. The same, then subsequently, was shared with President Joe Biden. Less than 120 days after this video coming online, Zawahiri-who was being searched by multiple US and world intelligence agencies and has successfully evaded them for almost 24 years since August 1998, despite carrying a reward of $25 million on his head was dead.

Whether the US agencies were able to find out about his location as a result of the movement caused by the April video or was his location shared by leaders within the Taliban or it reached the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through the Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is a matter of speculation. However, what can be stated with certainty is that Zawahiri entered Kabul only after being invited by the Taliban leadership and it was they who arranged for his accommodation.