President Biden is right this evening to emphasize the importance of delivering justice to Ayman al-Zawahiri. It is clear that this was the result of months of patient intelligence work and the ability to act on that with extraordinary precision.
Al-Zawahiri had great credibility in the jihadi movement going back to his opposition to the Egyptian government years ago. He contributed a strategic perspective to complement bin Laden’s charisma (which al-Zawahiri lacked).
In recent years, I would characterize him as retaining respect within the movement but not a great deal of authority. Much of the authority, and actual capability, had flowed to al-Qaeda affiliates in places like Yemen, Syria, and parts of north and sub-Saharan Africa—all of them operating, I believe, with minimal direction from central authority, which had lost among other things the ability to support them financially. So his death does n
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