he is re al-zawahiri is in the us? he is pretty well— al-zawahiri is in the us? the us? he is pretty well known in _ al-zawahiri is in the us? he is pretty well known in the - al-zawahiri is in the us? he is pretty well known in the us, l al-zawahiri is in the us? he is| pretty well known in the us, as he was indicted for the bombings of the us embassies in kenya and tanzania in 1988, which by the way, kind of highlighted the growing threat from al-qaeda and as you mentioned earlier, he participated in the attack against uss cole and the planning of 9/11 and having taken over from 0sama planning of 9/11 and having taken overfrom osama bin laden as the leader of al-qaeda, he is a pretty well—known name, at least two folks who had been around that adult lives since that time frame. i around that adult lives since that time frame.— that time frame. i was interested _ that time frame. i was interested that - that time frame. i was interested that in - that time frame. i was interested that in a . that time frame. i was - interested that in a recent un report, the tal

what constitutes— al-zawahiri is questioned. what constitutes the _ al-zawahiri is questioned.hiri is questioned. what constitutes the moment where you can have a victory lap? is it the erasure of al-qaeda? that is unlikely. it is unlikely but al-qaeda has proliferated two franchises and what we have to see is what is the aftermath of our attack of a taliban household in kabul. what we're to have to analyse, if the taliban government has violated the agreement and they will be challenging whether we have violated the doha agreement.— have violated the doha a . reement. ., have violated the doha aareement. ., ., agreement. the treatment of detainees. — agreement. the treatment of detainees, whether - agreement. the treatment of detainees, whether in - detainees, whether in guantanamo bay or more in various parts of the world, you feel served the us and are less badly indeed in terms of bringing tojustice badly indeed in terms of bringing to justice people like ayman al—zawahiri? if bringing to justice people like ayman al-zawahiri?_ bringing to justice people like ayman al-zawah

i just wonder how familiar a name and a figure ayman al—zawahiri is in the us?us, as he was indicted for the bombings of the us embassies in kenya and tanzania in 1988, which by the way, kind of highlighted the growing threat from al-qaeda and then, as you mentioned earlier, he participated in the attack against uss cole and the planning of 9/11, and having taken overfrom bin laden as the leader of al-qaeda, he is a pretty well—known name, at least to folks who had been around that adult lives since that time frame. i was interested that in a recent un report, the taliban were given at least some credit for restraining al-qaeda and whatever its plans might be for further incitement to violence, not least against the united states, and i wonder from that point of view, to what extent this is in your view in any way a risky tactic to take them on at this point? no, personally i do not believe it is risky per se. i think that his location in kabul also demonstrates the untrustworthiness, the continual lying and deception that is perpetuated by the taliban, because

but zawahiri was seen as the _ certainly was. but zawahiri was seen as the brains _ certainly was.ains behind - certainly was. but zawahiri was seen as the brains behind it. i seen as the brains behind it. he was seen as a man who was in charge of the tactics, the organisational skill that went behind 9/11 and other attacks, attempted attacks on america. he and bin laden were incredibly close and appeared incredibly close and appeared in began at videos together. the us had wanted zawahiri for a bouncy of $25 million. he was once the most wanted man in the world. what is interesting is that zawahiri became a rogue figure in recent years, he was not seen that frequently. he was thought to be in bad health. he went for long periods without being seen in public. and in terms of al-qaeda, his influence, it is considered that has waned in recent years especially when you have these new younger terrorist groups like the so—called is a next date coming up. it was thought that zawahiri was not as influential. there is no doubt, i think it is well expected that al-qaeda will get a new leade

indeed, and we will be _ al-zawahiri's name. indeed, and we will be carrying _ al-zawahiri's name.ying that - al-zawahiri's name. indeed, and we will be carrying that press - we will be carrying that press conference by president biden live here, so tune in for more details and we get that. you've described how important ayman al—zawahiri was to the al-qaeda, with the caveat that we don't know that it was him that's been killed in this drone strike. give us a sense of how significant this might be to the al-qaeda operation. of how significant this might be to the al—qaeda operation. i be to the al-qaeda operation. i mean, it's a huge blow for them. this is the leader of al-qaeda, as i mentioned, taking over the terrorist group in 2011 when 0sama taking over the terrorist group in 2011 when osama bin laden was killed by the us. but ayman al—zawahiri himself has always beenin al—zawahiri himself has always been in invisible symbol of the group, he was over 70 years old and once 0sama group, he was over 70 years old and once osama bin laden�*s personal physician. his whereabouts have

zawahiri's background, and also about how you got him. is there anything that i've left out, or that i got wrong? is there anything else that you can tell us about how this mission unfolded? >> i think you did a pretty good job rolling out the history from this man, who he was, but he was responsible for, and how he met his and. i can tell you, there was an awful lot of work done by the counterterrorism and the intelligence community, to get us to this point. it was painstaking, meticulous, thoughtful work. as you rightly pointed out in your opening, rachel, the president was kept informed throughout, finally made the decision in late july, the 24th of july specifically. and then, of course, we executed. and even though he had given the order on the 25th, the conditions needed to be right. and there were a lot of conditions, there with what's needed to be factored in. of course, mr. zawahiri needed to be where he thought we would be, based on his pattern of life. and then, the president was very clear, that he didn't want us to cause civi

. personal approval to kill ayman al-zawahiri-_ al-zawahiri. justice has been delivered _ al-zawahiribeen delivered and _ al-zawahiri. justice has been delivered and the _ al-zawahiri. justice has been delivered and the terrorist i delivered and the terrorist leader is no more.- leader is no more. people around the _ leader is no more. people around the world - leader is no more. people around the world no - leader is no more. people | around the world no longer leader is no more. people - around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined _ to fear the vicious and determined killer. - to fear the vicious and | determined killer. the to fear the vicious —.ic determined killer. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hired, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. it has taken 21 years. osama bin laden was the face behind the 9-11 bin laden was

ayman al zawahiri. you know, zawahiri was bin laden's leader. he was with him all the whole time.eputy at the time of the terrorist attack of 9/11. he was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11. one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2,977 people on american soil. for decades, he was a master mind behind attacks against americans, including the bombing of the uss coal in 2000, which killed 17 american sailors and wounded dozens more. he played a key role, key role in the bombing of the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania, killing 224 and wounding over 4,500 others. he carved a trail of murder and violence against american citizens. american service members, american diplomats, and american interests. and since the united states delivered justice to bin laden 11 years ago, zawahiri has been a leader of al qaeda, the leader, from hiding, he coordinated al qaeda's branches and all around the world, including setting priorities for providing operational guidance that called for and inspired attacks against u.s. targets. he made videos, including in recent weeks, c

we've been seeking zawahiri for years under president bush, 0bama and trump.ved to downtown kabul to reunite with immediate family after carefully considering clear and convincing evidence of his location. i authorise a strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all. this mission was carefully planned, rigorously minimising the risk of harms, and one week ago, we were can advised that the conditions were optimal, i gave the final order to go get him in the mission was a success. his family members were hurt. i'm sharing this now after confirming the mission�*s total success to the painstaking success of our key allies and partners. my administration has kept leaders informed as well. when i ended our mission in afghanistan, i made a decision that after 20 years of war, the united states no longer needs thousands of boots on the ground in afghanistan to andi boots on the ground in afghanistan to and i made a promise to the american people that we continue to conduct effective operations in afghanistan and beyond. we've donejust afghanistan a

biden: al-zawahiri has been a leader of al qaeda. from hiding he coordinated al qaeda's branches and all around the world including operational guidance and called for inspiring attacks against u.s. targets. he made videos including in the recent weeks to call for his followers to attack the united states and our allies. now, just has been delivered. this terrorist leader is no more. people around the world no longer need to worry about this vicious killer. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. host: a little bit of what the president said. guest: the president is right that the reach of the united states as long. our patience is long. no matter if it takes 22 years we will come, we will find you, we will take you out. that was not just the message to al-zawahiri b

al-zawahiri . >> that was cnn's michael holmes., all the brbreaking news, after this. mee is before you go on medicare. don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare for your free decision guide. ♪ ♪ the thing that's different about a vrbo vacation home. you always have the ole place to yourself. no stranger at the dinner table making things awkward. or in another room taking up space. it's just you and your people. because why would you ever share your vacation home with someone you wouldn't share your vacation with. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ discover intuitive technology at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. ♪ ♪ you might have heard of carvana and that we sell cars online. we believe buying a car should be something that gets you hyped up. and that your new car ought to come with newfound happiness and zero surprises. and all of us will stop at nothing to drive you happy. we'll drive you happy at carvana. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, but at fisher investments we're clea

i think. unquestionably, without al-zawahiri unquestionably, without al—zawahiri on this earth, we are more aggressive, more radical, someone far younger that's able to attract a new generation ofjihadist recruits. so al-qaeda has proven throughout its inception to be highly adaptive, it's been highly responsive to changes in the counterterrorism environment. so this unfortunately isn't the last we will hear of al-qaeda, but it is quite a big blow to the group. al-qaeda, but it is quite a big blow to the grow-— to the group. great to get you on the programme _ to the group. great to get you on the programme. thank— to the group. great to get you on the programme. thank you. - let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk... british oil and gas company bp has reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years on the back of soaring oil and gas prices. the energy giant saw profits hit more than $8 billion for the period between april and june. the report comes as household energy bills have been forecast to rise about $4,000 a year this winter. conservative leadersh

zawahiri is the mastermind of that. that was 1997. 1998, he wrote what amounted to a declaration of war against america, he proclaimed that groupsoc like his and osama bin laden's group al qaeda and all of the islamic terrorist groups, he proclaimed were all united, as what he called the international front against crusaders and jews, not to put too fine a point on it. his declaration in february 1998 proclaimed it their mission to target america, to target the united states of america and specifically to kill american peopleec anywhere in the world. that was february, 1998, that he wrote that declaration of war. later that same year, in august, 1998, they blew up the u.s. embassies in tanzania and kenna, more t than 4,000 people injure more than 200 people killed. in october 2000, they hit the uss cole, a guided missile zroir while it was being refuelled in yemen. i 17 u.s. sailors killed, 37 injured. the year after that, in june, june, 2001, al qaeda, bin laden's group, formally absorbed zawahiri's group, islamic jiha

but i want to go back to him, to al-zawahiri.hat he carried out mass attacks, killing civilians, hundreds of them, and thousands, actually here in the united states. and what's so striking is the kind of precision and patience, and consideration that the president biden and our entire intelligence community exercise. this is what separates us from the terrorists who are attacking civilians. it's what separates us from, let's say, the russians, who leveled entire residential buildings, killing hundreds if not thousands, without any concern about innocent civilians. and i can only tell you from my experience, when i was at the pentagon, i would have regular meetings, almost daily meetings with president clinton, going over the targets picked over that day, and the -- excuse me, one second. that day, we would go over the targets. we would go over the type of munitions that were being used, what the damage was, what's the collateral damage was, because we want to minimize the killing of innocent civilians. and that is how we are. so,

al-zawahiri is the last of the iconic leaders.course, bin laden has been killed and so have others, so the point here is the old al qaeda is dead. at the brand of al qaeda will continue as indeed the nazi brand continued after the death of hitler's and the defeat of the nis in germany. i don't think we can call it an end, but a transition phase in whatever al qaeda morphs into evenally. kasia: earlier, i spoke with our chief international correspondent from kabul. reporter: the details are so sketchy. there's so much speculation that swirls around ayman al-zawahiri d it continues to this day with people hearing kabul expressing skepticism he had actually been killed, that he was in that safe house in the neighborhood just a few streets away from where we are broadcasting from. there were many on social media who remindedryone that there is been repeated reports that al-zawahiri had died for, one that saying he had died of illness. those wh said he was still alive believed the man who went into hiding after the september 11 attacks

zawahiri was the mastermind behind that. he proclaimed groups like his and obama bin laden's group, al-qaeda, and all the islamist terrorist groups he proclaimed were all united as what he called the international front against crusaders and jews, not to put too fine a point on it. his declaration in february 1998 proclaimed it their mission to target america, to target the united states of america and specifically to kill american people anywhere in the world. that was february 1998 that he wrote that declaration of war. later that same year in august 1998 they blew up the u.s. embassies in tanzania and kenya. more than 4,000 people injured. more than 200 people killed. then in october 2000 they hit the uss cole, a guided missile destroyer, while it was being refueled in yemen. 17 u.s. sailors killed, 37 injured. the year after that in june, june 2001, al-qaeda, bin laden's group formally absorbed zawahiri's group. from that point forward they were no longer compatriots, now in 2001 al-qaeda was it. he was bin laden's secon

and zawahiri essentially did but bin laden did.ns that therefore he can very capably lead the affiliates of al-qaeda around the world. essentially, they have been operating autonomous, they independently. they may be part of the brand of al-qaeda, but they certainly weren't under and be operational control. again, noting that this is a very symbolic success to bring one of the last of the original al-qaeda leaders who did so much damage around the world, again, and east africa bombings, and a number of bombings north africa. exhortation's elsewhere. not to mention being a core part of al-qaeda 9/11 attacks were planned. >> and he was increasingly -- he's one of the group who is increasingly radicalized and egyptian prisons. right? >> that's true, and fact he actually led to the egyptian islamic jihad prior to this in the 1990s. and it was in the late 1990s that he actually emerged with osama bin laden. they hadn't met him earlier in the battlefields enough ghana stan and the soviets. >> general petraeus, i appreciate your time. tha

al—zawahiri was even bin laden�*s personal physician.or alive for $25 million. i think what this reflects is, really, the challenges we have had on our counterterrorism policies where al—zawahiri has been able to survive for two decades, outlasted the afghanistan war in safety, prior to us being able to eliminate him. when bin laden was killed by the americans in 2011, al—zawahiri took over. the president said america hunted him for a year, eventually locating him to a safe house in kabul last weekend. they shot two missiles at him. his family members were unharmed. al—zawahiri was rumoured to be in bad health, becoming a remote figure, and with the rise of other terror groups like the so—called islamic state, his influence was marginal compared to his predecessor. the taliban has called the killing "a violation of international principles". but al—zawahiri's presence in kabul has cast doubt on the taliban's promise its country would not be a haven for terrorists. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. 0ur chief international correspondent l

zawahiri played a marriginal ro in the pre- 9/11 al qaeda. you can read the 9/11 commission report, he really wasn't involved in the planning of 9/11. that was bin laden and others. so zawahiri tnever carried out n attack on the united states or american interests in the decade he ran it. he presided over the split between al qaeda and isis, which, you know, is really a terrible thing for al qaeda because isis became the most effective terrorist group in the world. if bin laden had been around, maybe he would have been able to paper over those differences. >> one open question following the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. we're coming up at the end of the month on the one year anniversary of that had been can the u.s. carry out effective counterterror operations from outside the country without boots on the ground, whether they be u.s. military or cia assets? and bill burns, cia director, acknowledged publicly it is more difficult. i spoke to the head of mi6 who said it is more difficult from outside the country. but they were able to do it

and you have to get a zawahiri credit. when we had 9/11, there are about 400 guys who are in al-qaeda. and now, there are estimates that it's more like 40,000. there are accounts, from al-qaeda affiliates, from morocco all the way to india. so, we cannot say that zawahiri's leadership has been a failure. he doesn't have charisma, everybody agrees. now, the next step, there are future leaders that have been trained for al-qaeda. i think the most likely one is saif al-adel. living in iran now, as have several other al-qaeda leaders been living there for decades. and he may well come out of iran, and take over the leadership of al-qaeda. but i think he would be the most formidable candidate. he is smart. he's a strategist. he's got great connections and a tremendous amount of loyalty for people who are in the organization now. >> helene cooper and lawrence wright, thank you for joining us on this breaking news. in a normal political world, you might think that a national security success of this magnitude we translate into a

al-zawahiri was the egyptian brains. bin laden was the saudi money.n some sense he is the original, the founder, the symbol for many of the kadris probably even more so than bin laden, so symbolically a huge setback. the truth is al qaeda is in bad shape anyway. it is a shadow of what it used to be and so i think that -- i'm not sure exactly how much effect it will have operationally because it's already a pretty ragtag operation, but without question, the single biggest blow you could give to appear died would be to decapitate al- zawahiri. >> last year, fareed, when you marked the tenth anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. you said islamic threat isn't the threat it used to be. what do you think after this strike? >> i have been saying a while what we need to look at is the most important question is are they inspiring people, getting new recruits, able to win people over to their cause? in country after country what you're finding is the answer is no. it's almost as though they had this -- there was this sense of desperation and futility

ayman al-zawahiri.e talking with richard haass in a minute. big news yesterday and something we have been working toward for the past 20 years. it is hard to overstate how important this is to people in the cia and the military that have been trying to bring this terrorist to justice because he was ultimately responsible. donald trump when he was at his golf tournament this weekend by our account had 14 people, a couple chickens, a hound dog running across a couple greens really distracting, you're sitting there and mickelson trying to play and that hound dog chasing chickens and he has to stop but so, he was asked about that while this animal battle was going on, on the 16th with mickelson and trump said we don't really know what caused 9/11 we need to look into that. well, we have actually always known what caused 9/11 and his name was al-zawahiri and he was killed by the united states. >> first of all you'd have to step off when the tumbleweed rolls across the green, that can be distracting but yes t

that is other operatives talking about the fact that zawahiri was killed. whether that is human intelligence and source reporting, and signal intelligence, that something that the president will have to explain how we can be so sure with the highest level of confidence that we got the right guy and the question of whether or not any more were killed as well. >> bret: this is a big foreign policy success and an administration that frankly has not had a lot of overseas successes if you talk to both supporters and critics. this is you would say a very big day for president biden. >> it is. it's a big day for his intelligence community and these are folks that have been working for years and decades, many of them under many administrations. it's really the product of work that they have done for just a very long time and it is happening under this administration, good on them. we all applaud. i think the biden administration for taking the strike and at the same time i think the president will be asked other questions, rightly so about whether we can handle the

zawahiri was not that. but the next leader of al qaeda will be safe a lotle, the most competent and has the largest following in al qaeda. now living in iran. he will take it in a different direction. he's got a lot of resources. so does the counter terrorist movement among the world. it will be a struggle but i don't think we'll see the death of it with the death of al zawahiri. here is what you wrote in hur new piece. zawahiri and bin laden were very different men. not friends by allies. using each other. for the skills and resources that they could each provide. al qaeda would not have survived without the dynamic they created together. you go on to write, in al qaeda he provided the direction and bin laden supplied the money. zawahiri was always in the background and many people who studied al qaeda thought that bin laden's death would bring the curtain down on their creation and after bin laden's death, zawahiri held the organization today. and you also note that although al qaeda never had another att

airstrike had taken out ayman al zawahiri. zawahiri of course became the leader of al qaeda after osama bin laden's death more than ten years ago and is seen as one of the masterminds of the september 11 attack here in the u.s. about. what we're told is that earlier in year u.s. intelligence had gathered that he was in a safe house in kabul and that u.s. intelligence officials had spent months gathering information about his whereabouts, about his pattern of life, and had kept president biden informed as he ultimately last week made the final decision to go ahead with this airstrike. now, the president indicating in a speech to the nation that this is something that will hopefully give a little bit of closure to the families and victims of the september 11 attacks, he said in his remarks that justice has been delivered. >> now justice has been delivered. and this terrorist leader is no more. people around the world no longer need to feert vicious and determined killer. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and

ayman al-zawahiri. you know, zawahiri wasn't bin laden's leader. he was with him the whole time. the terrorist attack. he was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11. he was responsible for the attack that murdered 2977 people on american soil. for decades, he was the mastermind behind attacks against americans including the bombing of the uss coal in 2000 which killed 17 american sailors and wounded dozens more. he played a key role in the bombings of tanzania killing 224 and wounding 4500 others. he carved a trail of murder and violence against american citizens, american servicemembers, american diplomats, and american interests. since the united states deliver justice to bin laden 11 years ago, zawahiri has been a leader of al-qaeda, the leader. from hiding, he coordinated al qaeda's branches and all around the world, has provided operational guidance that has called for and inspired attacks against u.s. targets. he made videos, including in recent weeks to call for attacks on the united states and our allies. now justice has been delivered. this terrorist leader is no more.

a senior administration official says a drone strike killed ayman al zawahiri after u.s. intelligence tracked him to a safe house in kabul. >> justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more. >> reporter: according to the official, the cia first briefed the president back in april that zawahiri was believed to be living in the house with his wife and children. in july the cia built a model of the safe house to show the president how a strike could be carried out. biden authorized the strike days later, and on sunday around 6:00 a.m. a drone fired two hellfire missiles at al zawahiri as he stepped onto the balcony of the safe house. sources say no one else was killed. >> what this type of drone is, this type of munition i should say is to deliberately try to avoid any collateral damage. >> reporter: experts say hellfire missiles do not explode. instead the missiles are equipped with razor-like blades extending from the fuselage which slice through a target. >> so it will go through and essentially vaporize a human body, but somebody standing within feet of

calls that hassan says, went unheeded. >> for many years, i think zawahiri and zawahiri's messages neverated on the ground. i think his greatest achievement over the past ten years since he took over al-qaeda in 2011 after the killing of osama bin laden was really to stay alive. he lost control over the two biggest branches of al-qaeda in iraq and syria. nick: what's next for al qaeda? >> i think al-qaeda, as we know it, is over. al-qaeda, you know, this is a name, but really ihas almost zero effect on the ground. both osama bin laden and zawahiri helped internationalize that cause. before then and after them, i think the core story of jihad will always be focused on local, local fighting. reporter: for the taliban al-qaeda has always been local. , and the strike made that abundantly clear. that home where zawahiri was killed wasontrolled by the chief of staff to the taliban's acting interior minister. nick: these days that interior minister, sirajjudin haqqani, walks openly through kabul, despite a $10 million u.s. bounty on his head, and despite his haqqani network targeting the city a

and ayman al zawahiri and al qaeda certainly do.le a decapitation strike like this is important and it does prove that we can do over the horizon operations, it also means you keep sustained pressure on. that means continued strikes, continued monitoring. i think i know -- i know that my old colleagues in the intelligence community will certainly celebrate the events of the last several days but there's a lot more work to do because, you know, al qaeda is still -- they have a terrorist safe haven in afghanistan, they have allies, so we can't take our foot off the gas right now. >> you know the capital of afghanistan so well. talk to us a little bit about where the strike was carried out and then there's been talk -- ken was talking about the diplomatic quarter. what is that and what was the area and the context in which this strike was carried out? >> well, thank you, jose. the neighborhood is a neighborhood that was very well known amongst the western community. it was a fairly new neighborhood post-2001. it used to be a military b

zawahiri.led in a safe house in kabul. it was carried out by a cia drone strike. and president biden met with his national security team to discuss the operation. you can see in this photo, just by the president, a wooden box on the table that contains a model of the safe house used by al zawahiri. national security council john kirby spoke about the intelligence that led them to find al zawahiri, after a two decades' long time. >> yeah, just an incredible amount of painstaking work went into this. and i want to be careful about the intelligence stream. but basically, we were able to track the movement of mr. zawahiri's family to kabul. trying to understand both the habits of this individual, but also confirming that this individual was in fact mr. zawahiri. and once we had that in place, then it was really a matter of presenting the case to the national security team and to the president, of course, for the president to make a decision and then, he obviously made that decision. it really came

ayman al—zawahiri, right—hand man and successor to osama bin laden.led him as he stood on the balcony at this family home in an upmarket kabul neighbourhood. we can hear debris still being cleared up, but then we are told to stop filming. we're in the centre of the city. the house that was targeted in the drone strike is just a few minutes away, but the taliban are not allowing anyone to film nearby, insisting there is nothing to see — one even pointing his gun threateningly towards us a little earlier on. senior taliban figures must have agreed to al-qaeda's leader living here, but they have insisted in public the group no longer exists in afghanistan, so his death poses difficult questions. zawahiri had trained as a doctor in egypt, but was drawn into radical circles. afterjoining al-qaeda, he helped plan the 9/11 attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. america placed a $25 million dollar bounty on his head. president biden was in the command centre when 0sama bin laden was killed. and here he is being briefed on this weeekend's operation

ayman al zawahiri is dead. afghanistan is obviously not a safe haven for terrorists, and the united states has the kaep capability from over the horizon to develop an operation and to execute it flawlessly. >> john brennan just emphasized that sarajadin haqqani, the man in charge of all the security for the taliban, owns that safehouse. so clearly the taliban -- the haqqani network in pakistan helped get him from pakistan into kabul where he could communicate more effectively, send out these videos that he's been sending out. >> andrea, we're fully aware that the senior taliban haqqani leadership knew of the presence of and enabled the presence of the leader of al qaeda in afghanistan. that's why the president took the decision to take the strike in kabul, because the taliban were not living up to the terms of the doha agreement and because the president made a commitment to the american people to ensure that afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for terrorists plotting against the united states. >>

zawahiri had moved into afghanistan. so what we're able to do is stitch together some intelligence, based on the movements of his family, quite frankly, and then once we tracked them into kabul, we were able to then be able to track him and his efforts to reunite them. that led then to weeks if not several months, of making sure that we had the right guy, that this was, in fact, mr. zawahiri, and that this was in fact their residence and then, of course, developing a pattern of life. his habits, if and when he went outside, how often, on what days, for how long, all that kind of stuff factored into it. and once we knew that we had an effective pattern, and opportunities that could be taken, it was really then stitching together how you were going to take that opportunity and with what. in this case we used an unmanned aerial vehicle with missiles, obviously. and two of those missiles were fired at mr. zawahiri while he was outside on that third floor balcony. the president made it very clear, when he made the decision, b

zawahiri was spotted on the balcony of that home, and that is eventually where he died. there was the final green light was given by president biden for a very precise strike on july 25th. that strike happened sunday morning, kabul time, when a drone fired two hellfire missiles. now, the white house is saying that they have visual confirmation of his death, but they do not have dna confirmation. take a listen. >> we do not have dna confirmation, brianna, we're not going to get that confirmation, and quite frankly, brianna, based on the multiple sources and methods that we have gathered the information from, we don't need it. we have visual confirmation, but we also have confirmation through other sources and methods. >> reporter: they got that confirmation through various streams of intelligence. that is very different from the bin laden raid when s.e.a.l. team 6 went on to the ground and actually had bin laden's body. the biden administration is holding this up as an example of what they can do in the future, continue to take out terrorists in afghanistan without having

strike that killed al-qaeda leader ayman al-zawahiri. the new images, the safe house where he was killed, and president biden in the situation room being briefed with a model of the hideout inside the months long operation. >>> days after the gop moved to block a bill to help veterans exposed to burn pits, the new deal announced today >>> the desperate search for survivors in the kentucky flood. hundreds still unaccounted for new images tonight of the harrowing rescues. >>> the death toll growing in the largest wildfire to erupt in california this year >>> inside the future of virtual reality, the technology you can touch bringing the metaverse to life >>> and 15 years after we first took you onboard this magic school bus, how it has inspired america's next generation of scientists >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening, everyone in a trip the white house fears is fraught with risk and viewed by china as a challenge to its sovereignty, house speaker nancy pelosi is beginning a new day in taiwan, arriv

with the u.s. >> reporter: smoke billowing over kabul over the house of al zawahiri, and the windowsthe structure in tact which is the care taken to avoid collateral damage, and aside from al zawahiri killed. now the house draped in green covering and the world's most wanted terrorist was killed on the third-floor balcony. >> in this case, we used an unmanned vehicle with hellfire missiles and we used those to kill mr. al zawahiri out on that balcony and the president said that when we made the decision that we avoided civilian casualties and we did. >> reporter: other intelligence confirmed that and white house john kirby said, but there is no dna evidence of his death, and the intelligence gathering and planning took place for most of the year, and this situation room meeting with the top national security officials was in early july when he was shown a model of the house, and the leader had a $25 million bounty on his head and he had moved to downtown kabul and his movement was tracked and he was spotted on the balcony when he was killed early morning sunday when a hellfire missil

officials say zawahiri's family moved to this year.gence community built a model of the house, kept in a box in front of president biden during a key meeting last month, before he authorized the strike on al qaeda's leader. for three decades ayman al-zawahiri provided al qaeda's organizational and inspirational backbone. he never had osama bin laden's wealth or charisma. but he gave bin laden the vision of targeting not only what they considered pro-western muslims, but what they called "the far enemy," the u.s. that ledo the 1998 east africa embassy bombings, the 2000 attack on the uss cole in yemen and 9/11. >> instead of focusing on local enemies. nick: hassan hassan is a longtime terrorism analyst, and the editor-in-chief of new lines magazine. he says zawahiri came a long way from this upper-middle class cairo neighborhood where he grew up, and trained to be a medical doctor. but he was radicalized young, and in 1981 his orgazation jihad group participated in the assassination of then-president anwar sadat. he was arrested and hel

forces, but it did not mention al zawahiri. intelligence officials believe al zawahiri's family was in another part of the home and no one else was killed. bin laden was killed in pakistan in 2011 in an operation carried out by u.s. navy seals after a nearly decade-long period to find him. anne-marie? >> trinity chavez in new york. trinity, thank you so much. >>> so coverage of the deadly drone strike continues on "cbs mornings." we'll be talking with white house national security adviser jake sullivan about that attack. >>> house speaker nancy pelosi continues her trip interest asia this morning. she is expected to visit taiwan as early as today. that's according to local media there. the california democrat is leading a house delegation of five other democrats that are also planning stops in malaysia, south korea, and japan. yesterday pelosi met with top leaders in singapore, but her expected visit in taiwan is increasing tension between china and the u.s. china considers the self-ruled island as its territory and thinks of t

but i want to go back to him, personally, zawahiri.t he carried out mass attacks killing civilians, hundreds and thousands actually here in the united states and what is so striking is the kind of precision and patience and consideration that president biden and our entire intelligence committee emphasized this is what separates us from the terrorist who attacked civilians. it's what separates from, let's say the russians, who level entire residential buildings. killing hundreds if not thousands without any concern about incidents civilians. and i can tell you from my experience when i was at the pentagon. i would've had regular meetings, almost dating meetings, with president clinton. going over the targets picked out for that day. in -- excuse me for one second. >> picked up for that day. the people took over the targets. lulu over the type of munitions there are being used. with the damage. was with the collateral damage was. because we wanted to minimize the killing of innocent civilians. that is who we are. so we know who al-qaeda

zawahiri was one of the master planners of the 9/11 attacks.re his family was hiding in downtown kabul. >> and this video, just obtained by cnn, shows the moments following the strike. you see heavy plumes of smoke billowing from the area. overnight security tightened in kabul. sources say president biden took great pains to prevent collateral damage from the strike. examining a scaled model of zawahiri's home before green lighting the mission. and this morning, the fbi updating its most wanted notice for zawahiri to deceased. >> let's bring in national security council coordinator for strategic communications at the white house, john kirby. sir, thank you so much for being with us. i know that certainly you are hailing this as a success today at the white house and we're

be for attala been harbouring ayman al-zawahiri?— al-zawahiri?d of anything at - al-zawahiri? anlage telegraph and not get ahead of anything at this i not get ahead of anything at this point. i would not get ahead of anything at this point. iwould make not get ahead of anything at this point. i would make two points, one, the strike in itself shows how serious we are. about accountability. shows about how serious we are about defending our interest. we are going to maintain the horizon capability and go so ours as we can continue to try and improve that capability going forward. to come up we've communicated very directly with taliban leaders. our views of their willingness at some level to harbour ayman al—zawahiri and his family. and we have made it clear not we believe, not with ink, and always pose but we know that that's a violation of the doha.- pose but we know that that's a violation of the doha. clearly they shows accountability _ violation of the doha. clearly they shows accountability for ayman i shows accountability for ayman al—zawah

ayman al zawahiri was killed this last weekend by a cia drone while standing on a balcony in downtown kabul, second in command to osama bin laden during the september 11th attacks, and became the top leader when the united states killed bin laden in 2011. a senior administration official tells nbc news that the strike was so precise, none of his family inside the home were killed. in a rare evening address last night, president biden still isolating from covid said justice has been delivered. >> people around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. we make it clear again tonight, that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you, and take you out. >> al zawahiri escaped u.s. forces in 2001. his where-abouts had been unknown since then. but earlier this year, u.s. intelligence determined he had moved from pakistan to a taliban-supported safe hou

there are two big international stories at this hour, al zawahiri was killed in a u.s. drone strike on sunday and now cnn identified the house where it happened. >>> and right now china is threatening to start air and sea military exercises around taiwan, this is a direct response to house speaker nancy pelosi's arrival there. the house speaker is the first high ranking u.s. official to visit taiwan in 25 years. a landmark flashed a sign that said speaker pelosi welcome to taiwan. >> china is not mincing words, the foreign ministry issued a statement, quote, this is a serious rye lags of the one china principle it has severe impact on the political foundation of china/u.s. relations. kylie atwood joins us now. tell us the reaction. >> the biden administration is trying to bring the temperature down right now. you see china raising the temperature and doing a number of things. taiwan said that a number of the government websites in the country have faced threats, cyber attacks in the last 24 hours as the trip was about to occur. we know there have been war planes that ch

under zawahiri's leadership after bin laden was killed —— defied a zawahiri.years ago, so i do not think a new leader will be able to steal it —— we knew 20 years ago. i do not think a new leader will be able to steer life into it. we need to keep foreign fighters in the region gravitating towards isis. idr fighters in the region gravitating towards isis.— fighters in the region gravitating towards isis. , ., ., ., towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave — towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it — towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it there, _ towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it there, thank— towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it there, thank you. - liz truss has backtracked on her proposal to link public sector pay to local living costs after a fierce backlash from some conservative mps and labour. last night she told conservative members it could save £9 billion a year but it led to fierce criticism from members of her party. supporters of her arrival said the u—turn showed lack of serious judgment. our

ayman al—zawahiri, right—hand man and successor to osama bin laden.on the balcony of this family home in an upmarket kabul neighbourhood. we can hear debris still being cleared up, but then we are told to stop filming. we are in the centre of the city. the house that was targeted in the drone strike is just a few minutes away, but the taliban are not allowing anyone to film nearby, insisting there is nothing to see, one even pointing his gun threateningly towards us a little earlier on. senior taliban figures must have agreed to al-qaeda's leader living here, but they have insisted in public the group no longer exists in afghanistan, so his death poses difficult questions. zawahiri had trained as a doctor in egypt, but was drawn into radical circles. afterjoining al-qaeda, he helped plan the 9/11 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. america placed a $25 million bounty on his head. president biden was in the command centre when osama bin laden was killed. and here he is being briefed on this weekend's operation, a major success after criti