On Saturday at my direction the United States successfully concluded an airstrike in Kabul Afghanistan that killed the emir
of al-Qaida Ayman al-Zawahiri.
You know Zawahiri was bin Laden's leader. He was with him all the the whole time. He was his number two man his deputy at the
time the terrorist attack 9/11. He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11 on the most responsible for the attacks and
murdered two thousand nine hundred seventy seven people on American soil. For decades he was the mastermind behind attacks
against Americans including the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 which killed 17 American sailors and wounded dozens more. He
played a key role a key role in the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killing 224 and wounding over
4500 others. He carved a trail of murder and violence against American
citizens. American service members American diplomats and American interests
incensed. The United States delivered justice in bin Laden 11 years ago. Zawahiri has been a leader of al-Qaida leader
from highly coordinated al-Qaida's branches and all around the world including setting priorities or providing operational
guidance that call for and inspired attacks against U.S. targets. He made videos including two recent weeks calling for
his followers to attack the United States and our allies. Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more.
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 we we 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
as relentlessly seeking Zawahiri for years under Presidents Bush Obama and Trump. Our intelligence community located Zawahiri
earlier this year had moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family.
After carefully considering a clear and convincing evidence of his location I authorized a precision strike that would remove
him from the battlefield once and for all. This mission was carefully planned
rigorously minimize the risk of harm to other civilians. And one week ago after being advised that conditions were
optimal I gave the final approval to go get him. And the mission was a success.
None of his family members were hurt and there were no civilian casualties.
I'm sharing this news that the American people now after confirming the mission's total success through the painstaking
work of our counterterrorism community and key allies and partners.
My administration has kept congressional leaders informed as well.
When I ended our military mission Afghanistan almost a year ago I made the decision that after 20 years of war the United States
no longer needed thousands of boots on the ground in Afghanistan to protect America from terrorists who seek to do us harm.
I made a promise to the American people that we continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and
beyond. We've done just that. In February our forces conducted a daring
mission in Syria that eliminated a mirror of ISIS. Last month we took out another key ISIS leader. Now we have eliminated the
emir of al-Qaida. He will never again never again allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone
and we're going to make sure that nothing else happens.