What Ayman al-Zawahri’s death says about terrorism in Taliban-run Afghanistan

By Vanda Felbab-Brown

The successful U.S. hit against Ayman al-Zawahri, the post-Osama bin Laden leader of al-Qaida, is a great moment of justice: Zawahri had been a key plotter of 9/11 and other vicious terrorist attacks. Although in recent years he has not been involved in daily tactical al-Qaida planning, his death will have a negative strategic and demoralizing impact on al-Qaida. Al-Qaida will not stop existing and operating, but it has again been put on the back foot.

This impressive show of the effectiveness and persistence of U.S. counterterrorism efforts is also an important demonstration to the world — and