The Taliban’s caretaker administration said that the group was uninformed of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s “arrival and stay” in the Afghan capital, although it is uncertain if the Taliban has explicitly acknowledged or denied the American assertion that the al-Qaeda chief was killed.
In a statement released on Thursday, August 4, Taliban senior spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated that the group has instructed its investigative and intelligence agencies to conduct thorough and comprehensive probes on various aspects of this case.
According to the Taliban spokesman, no country, including the United States, is under threat from Afghanistan.
Furthermore, he said that the Taliban intended to put the Doha Agreement into effect and that its violations had to stop.
The Taliban once more denounced the US attack on Kabul as a violation of Afghan airspace and against international norms and warned that the US will be held responsible for the consequences of such attacks, if repeated.
On the other hand, several top American officials, including Zalmay Khalilzad, claimed that some Taliban leaders were aware of Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul.
The death of Ayman al-Zawahiri, in the eyes of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has strengthened global security.
By “hosting and sheltering” the al-Qaeda chief in Kabul, the Taliban administration in Afghanistan violated its commitments to the international community, according to Blinken.
According to Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor to the US President, they are in contact with the Taliban to discover whether the Taliban sheltered Al-Zawahiri or not.
The Taliban officially pledged to renounce ties with terrorist organizations and prohibit the use of Afghan soil against other countries in the pact it signed with the United States in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in February 2020.
