The US killed al-Qaeda's top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Afghanistan over the weekend dealing the terrorist group a major blow.
Al-Zawahiri had overseen the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001 -- that killed 2,977 people -- along with Osama bin-Laden, who was killed by the US in 2011 in Pakistan.
This year, authorities discovered that Zawahiri's family—his wife, his daughter, and her kids—had moved to a safe home in Kabul, and they later found Zawahiri there as well.
After several months, intelligence officials became more certain that they had accurately identified Zawahiri inside the Kabul safe house. As a result, they began briefing senior government officials in early April. President Joe Biden was subsequently briefed by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
"We were able to build a pattern of life through multiple independent sources of information to inform the operation," the official said to Reuters.
The official claimed that after Zawahiri entered the Kabul safe house, authorities were unaware of his departure and repeatedly recognised him on the balcony, where he was ultimately struck.
In order to ensure that the United States could confidently carry out an operation to kill Zawahiri without endangering the structural integrity of the building and minimising the risk to bystanders and Zawahiri's family, officials looked into the safe house's construction and nature as well as its occupants, the official said.
According to the official, once Zawahiri entered the safe house in Kabul, officials were unaware of his departure and frequently recognised him on the balcony, where he was ultimately struck.
Officials investigated the safe house's construction and nature as well as its occupants to make sure that the United States could confidently carry out an operation to kill Zawahiri without endangering the structural integrity of the building and minimising the risk to onlookers and Zawahiri's family, the official said.
The official reported that the President inquired about the lighting, the climate, the construction materials, and other elements that might have an impact on the operation's success. The President also asked for a study of the potential effects of an attack on Kabul.
After carefully reviewing the intelligence reports and confirming that Zawahiri was a legitimate target due to his continued leadership of Al Qaeda, a small group of top inter-agency lawyers did so.
The President met with his key Cabinet members and advisors on July 25 to receive a final briefing and go through many topics, including how murdering Zawahiri would influence the United States' relationship with the Taliban, the official said.
A drone shooting 'hellfire' missiles ultimately carried out the strike on July 30 at 9:48 p.m. ET (0148 GMT).
