Was Mahmood Shah Habibi, former deputy chief of Afghanistan’s Aviation Authority, the man who leaked the whereabouts of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri to the United States of America (USA)? Afghanistan’s acting president-in-exile Amrullah Saleh, who spoke to News18 exclusively from an undisclosed location, thinks so. This is Saleh’s first-ever interview in almost two years to any publication around the world.
An American drone strike killed al-Zawahiri, a key plotter of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US who took over as the leader of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011, at a safe house in Kabul in Afghanistan, on July 31, 2022. Zawahiri was the No. 2 in al-Qaeda when the group conducted the September 11 terror attacks, and American officials considered him a central plotter.
The safe house in Kabul’s upscale Shirpur where al-Zawahiri stayed was the home to a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani. The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist insurgent group, built around the family of the same name. “There was an agreement between the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Haqqanis on the al-Qaeda. However, there was no discussion on the fate of al-Zawahiri per se," said Saleh.
The Taliban had promised in the 2020 Doha Agreement on the terms of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that they would not harbour al-Qaeda members. Consequently, they sent back the al-Qaeda members to their countries of origin such as Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, where they did not face prosecution. The Taliban was also negotiating with the leadership to leave. Zawahiri, however, stayed by himself with a few others in Kabul in an area which was home to foreign embassies and diplomats under the previous administration. “The US went around the Taliban and found his location through Habibi, a US passport holder of Afghan origin, who owned a Kabul-based telecommunication company in al-Zawahiri’s neighbourhood," alleged Saleh. Two hellfire missiles fired by a drone crashed into the balcony of his home, killing only the al-Qaeda leader.
According to Saleh, keen on finding the leak, the Taliban reached Habibi’s firm and detained him. Amid rumours of negotiations between the Taliban and the US for his release, Habibi’s family last spoke to the media in 2021, claiming they have no knowledge of his whereabouts. “As far as we know, the US has been in secret negotiations with the Taliban over his release. Washington keeps silent on this matter to deter domestic pressure, especially ahead of the upcoming Presidential elections. Habibi is a high-value hostage for the Taliban".
In August 2021, the United States and its NATO allies withdrew from Afghanistan after almost two decades of war with the Taliban, paving the way for the resurgent Islamist group. As President Ashraf Ghani fled after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, Saleh declared himself the acting president of the country and is leading the fight against the Taliban.
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