John Kirby: Al-Qaeda can't see Afghanistan as a safe haven after al-Zawahri's death
Adm. John Kirby (Ret.) argues Ayman al-Zawahri's death sent a 'powerful signal.'
The killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has brought up uncomfortable memories for the New York Times, after a reported connection between the slain terrorist and a Taliban leader who was once controversially given Times column space.
President Biden ordered the successful drone strike on a home in Kabul where al-Zawahri was staying, which, according to The Associated Press, was owned by a top aide to deputy Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani. The same Haqqani, who heads the terrorist Haqqani network linked to suicide bombings and attacks on Americans, penned an infamous 2020 op-ed for the New York Times about what the Taliban wanted from the U.S. in Afghanistan.
In addition to heading the terrorist Haqqani network, Haqqani is deputy leader of the Taliban, the militant Islamist organization now ruling Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S.-backed government's collapse last year following Biden's troop withdrawal. He also serves as the country's interior minister, and his connections to Zawahri underscore the bond between their extremist groups. A senior Biden administration official said Monday that Haqqani Taliban members were aware of his presence at the Kabul safe house and took action to conceal it after he was killed.
The Times raised eyebrows when it published an op-ed by Haqqani on Feb. 20, 2020, when the Taliban was in the midst of talks with the Trump administration about a possible U.S. troop withdrawal and an end to the Afghanistan war, which began in 2001 when U.S. forces toppled the Taliban. Haqqani expressed a lack of trust in the U.S. but said an agreement would allow Afghans to enjoy "our shared home where everybody would have the right to live with dignity, in peace." Despite his terrorist actions, he was only identified by the Times as the "deputy leader of the Taliban."
Recently slain Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri speaks on the 11th anniversary of Usama bin Laden's death. (AP Photo/Mazhar Ali Khan, File)
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His piece, shredded by critics as pure propaganda, also declared the Taliban was "committed to working with other parties in a consultative manner of genuine respect to agree on a new, inclusive political system in which the voice of every Afghan is reflected and where no Afghan feels excluded." In addition, he declared awareness of "concerns about the potential of Afghanistan being used by disruptive groups to threaten regional and world security. But these concerns are inflated: Reports about foreign groups in Afghanistan are politically motivated exaggerations by the warmongering players on all sides of the war."
Now back in control, the Taliban is ruling as harshly as before, suppressing women and girls, cracking down on human rights, punishing dissidents and allowing al Qaeda to operate, violating its own agreement to stop terrorism in its borders.
The decision to print Haqqani's words in 2020 drew sharp criticism, even from within the Times' house. New York Times senior correspondent in Afghanistan Mujib Mashal blasted his employer on Twitter at the time.
"The piece by Siraj Haqqani in @nytopinion- which's independent of our news operations & judgment - omits the most fundamental fact: that Siraj is no Taliban peace-maker as he paints himself, that he's behind some of most ruthless attacks of this war with many civilian lives lost," Mashal wrote before sharing links to several Times reports showing what Haqqani’s group has been accused of over the years.
The Times defended printing his arguments, with a spokesperson saying the newspaper understood how "dangerous and destructive the Taliban is" but nevertheless "our mission at Times Opinion is to tackle big ideas from a range of newsworthy viewpoints."
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Independent journalist Jeryl Bier was vocally critical of the Times this week and feels the publication of the column was and is inappropriate.
An image of the front entrance to the New York Times building in New York City. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo)
"The Times has to draw a line like everyone else," he told Fox News Digital. "One would assume there are certain individuals even the Times would refuse to yield its lofty platform to, although I would have assumed at one time an FBI-wanted terrorist would have been on that list. But as far as hearing from individuals because of their significance in world events, there are alternatives short of figuratively handing over the microphone."
Yet the tumult over Haqqani's piece at the New York Times was nothing compared to the volcanic eruption over conservative Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and his Times piece in 2020 arguing for military force, if necessary, to help quell violent protests in American cities over racial injustice.
Dozens of the liberal newspaper's journalists tweeted their objections to the column, arguing it put Black Times staffers in danger, and left-wing 1619 project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones said she was "deeply ashamed" the paper published it. The Times went into damage control, holding a town hall, conducting a wrenching internal review and concluding the essay did not meet its standards for publication. It affixed a lengthy editor's note accusing Cotton of fudging facts about Antifa's role in civil unrest and using a "needlessly harsh" tone, and Times editorial page editor James Bennet resigned amidst the backlash.
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The Times' Cotton crisis has long been fodder for conservative critics of institutional issues at the newspaper.
"Did anyone — anyone — at the NYT publicly object and make the 'unsafe' argument when it came to running an op-ed from a terror leader allied to the terror group that actually killed thousands of New Yorkers?" HotAir writer Ed Morrissey asked on Tuesday. "The ‘deputy leader of the Taliban,’ as the Times described Haqqani, was a high ranking official in an unelected tyranny that actively partnered with and sheltered AQ both before and after 9/11 — and after the other terrorist attacks on American interests quarterbacked by Zawahiri, too."
Afghan Taliban's acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani speaks during the anniversary of the departure of the Soviet Union, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 28, 2022. (REUTERS/Ali Khara)
"A school shooter or arsonist shouldn't be given the unmoderated opportunity to explain his reasoning, and neither should a terrorist," Bier told Fox News Digital. "Sometimes, severely flawed individuals can and should be given opportunity by the Times to express their views or explain their actions. In extreme cases, however, I believe an editorial by the board that incorporates materials from such malignant actors or even some kind of interview format would be more appropriate than simply carte blanche to have one's lies respectably dressed up on the pages of the newspaper of record."
The New York Times didn't reply to a request for comment about the Haqqani op-ed and whether it would add any notes to it as well. Starting in 2021, it began referring to op-eds from outside contributors as "guest essays."
While the killing of Zawahri was widely celebrated given his chief role in al Qaeda and the planning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some of Biden's critics were aghast at the implications of such a figure living in Kabul less than a year after the U.S. left Afghanistan.
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National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was pressed in multiple media appearances after the successful operation about what message it sent that an al Qaeda leader was living in Kabul with Taliban approval.
"The fact that we were able to take out Mr. Zawahri in downtown Kabul, without a scratch to anybody else, sends a pretty powerful signal to the Taliban and anybody else who might harbor al Qaeda terrorists going forward," Kirby told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed and condemned the attack on Twitter, calling it "a clear violation of international principles," according to a translation of the thread. However, the 2020 Doha Agreement, which preceded the Biden administration's highly criticized withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year, called for the Taliban to combat terrorism within the country.
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Fox News' Michael Ruiz and Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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