‘Wherever you hide, we will find you’: US President Joe Biden’s strong message after al-Zawahiri’s death

The United States (US) administration conducted a lethal air strike on the chief of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. After confirming that al-Zawahiri is dead, US President Joe Biden delivered a strong address to the entire nation.

Biden announced that al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul, an operation he hailed as delivering “justice” while expressing hope that it brings “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

While delivering the address on Monday evening from the White House, President Joe Biden’s intelligence officials tracked al-Zawahri to a home in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. The air strike against the Al-Qaeda chief was carried out on Sunday.

Confirming that the terrorist leader is no more, Biden said on Monday, “He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens.”

Patting his administration on the back over the significant win on terrorism, Biden paid tribute to the US intelligence community in his remarks, noting that “thanks to their extraordinary persistence and skill”, the operation was a “success.”

After the air strike against al-Zawahiri, the US President took to Twitter and wrote, “The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to do us harm. Tonight we made clear: No matter how long it takes. No matter where you try to hide. We will find you.”

Al-Zawahiri’s loss eliminates the figure who more than anyone shaped al-Qaida, first as bin Laden’s deputy since 1998, then as his successor. Together, he and bin Laden turned the jihadi movement’s guns to target the United States, carrying out the deadliest attack ever on American soil – the September 11 suicide hijackings.