As of this past Tuesday, the U.S. State Department has officially issued a “worldwide” caution alert for American citizens that warns of the fact that the likelihood of terrorists carrying out strikes against U.S. interests and installations has gone up in the wake of the CIA taking down Ayman Al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy and successor as leader of al-Qaeda.
“Following al-Zawahiri’s death, supporters of Al Qaeda, or its affiliated terrorist organizations, may seek to attack U.S. facilities, personnel, or citizens,” read the alert. “As terrorist attacks often occur without warning, U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance and practice good situational awareness when traveling abroad.”
It was stated by the State Department that it has good reason to think that the threat level against U.S. Citizens is now much “higher” in the wake of the drone strike that killed Al Zawahiri.
This particular warning stated that Americans needed to be alert of the possibility of kidnappings, hijackings, assassinations, suicide operations, and bombings.
The warning told Americans abroad to actively keep track of their local news and keep in contact with the closest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
Experts on terrorism quickly tried to downplay the attempts of Democrat President Joe Biden to try and count the killing of Al Zawahiri in Afghanistan as a victory for his administration, highlighting the fact that Al-Zawahiri having been in Afghanistan at all equates to meaning that the terror group has fully returned to power in the country in which they originally planned the 9/11 attacks.
Throughout the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan this past year, Biden expressed that al-qaeda was entirely “gone” from the country.
“The killing of Al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri will be sold as a counterterrorism success. But that narrative masks the undeniable truth that Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a safe have for Al Qaeda,” explained Bill Roggio, a terrorism analyst for the Long War Journal, via social media. “The strike that killed Zawahiri is the first since the U.S withdrawal 1+ months ago. The U.S. saved best for first, and made the first counterterrorism strike count.”
“Zawahiri was killed in the Sherpur neighborhood, in a home run by a deputy of Sirajuddin Haqqani. Sirajuddin is of course one of two deputy Taliban emirs as well as the interior minister,” he went on. “Zawahiri could not operate in Afghanistan – particularly in Kabul – without the consent of the Taliban. He wasn’t in the remote mountains of Kunar, Nuristan, or Nangarhar, or distant provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, or Kandahar. He was in the Taliban’s capital.”
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