Ayman al-Zawahiri had been irrelevant for years. But they obviously knew where he was. A year ago, the cover story for having been kicked out of Afghanistan after 20 years was that there was no more al-Qaeda in the country. So much for that.
We left vast amounts of military hardware for the Taliban, and for any and every hanger on that they might acquire, in return for having been allowed to leave Afghanistan vertically rather than horizontally.
Still, at least the intelligence and the technology have moved on since 1998, when Bill Clinton bombed a Sudanese aspirin factory, as well as stiffening the resolve of the Taliban such that they reneged on their promise to hand over Osama bin Laden to the Saudis.
Clinton had been trying to divert attention from Monica Lewinsky. From what is attention being diverted by Joe Biden, or by whoever it is who runs anything in the nominally Biden White House?
The Taliban say they never knew he was there.
ReplyDeleteThem and the Americans both, then.
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