Thursday’s statement is the first from the Taliban since the drone strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri on a balcony in central Kabul. In a text message to AP, the Taliban’s spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, writes that neither the government nor the leadership in the country were aware of his arrival in – or stay in – Afghanistan.
The Swedish terrorist expert Hans Brun, however, considers it unlikely that al-Zawahiri would have entered the country on his own.
– It is not on the map. The Taliban let in bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the late 1990s when they won the Afghan civil war that raged after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union. They laid out the guidelines for a war against the West in Afghanistan, he says in Morgonstudion.
The fact that al-Zawahiri was in Kabul is rather proof that the Taliban have once again let al-Qaeda into the country, Hans Brun believes.
Will live up to the Doha agreement
As Afghanistan and the United States signed the 2020 Doha Agreement, which outlines the terms for the withdrawal of American troops in the country, the Taliban assured not to harbor al-Qaeda members or others trying to attack the United States.
In the statement, the Taliban stated that it had ordered the intelligence service to carry out extensive investigations into the al-Qaeda leader’s whereabouts in Afghanistan, that it would live up to the Doha agreement and “find out the veracity of the claim” about al-Zawahiri’s death.
According to the AP, Suhail Shaheen has also assured that there is no threat to Western countries, including the United States, as a result of the leader’s death.
Threats to the US despite assurances
While Suhail Shaheen announced that the West and the United States need not worry about retaliation, the Taliban, referring to the drone attack, said that “if such incidents are repeated again, and if Afghanistan’s territory is violated, the responsibility for any consequences will fall on the United States,” reports Reuters .
Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death in Kabul raises questions about whether or not he was granted sanctuary in the country. How the Taliban chooses to act on the incident could have significant consequences as they seek international legitimacy and access to billions of dollars in frozen assets.
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