US President Joe Biden announced Ayman al-Zawahiri's killing on Tuesday. (AFP Photo)
US President Joe Biden announced the killing of Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a televised address on Tuesday. By doing this, experts say he shrugged off both Covid and detractors to show that US remains as strong as ever.
Here are five big quotes from Mr Biden's address:
- "We made 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," Mr Biden said in the speech uploaded on the White House's website.
- "He (Ayman al-Zawahiri) carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American servicemembers, American diplomats and American interests," he further said.
- "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," the US President added.
- "This mission was carefully planned and rigorously minimized the risk of harm to other civilians. And one week ago, after being advised that the 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," said Mr Biden.
- "When I ended our military mission in Afghanistan almost a year ago, I made a 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'd continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond. We've done just that," the US President said.
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