Biden to Be Commended for Elimination of al-Qaeda Leader, Pelosi Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday that President Joe Biden was to be commended for the US elimination of the leader of the al-Qaeda* terror group, Ayman al-Zawahri.

"President Biden announced that, at his direction, the United States killed Ayman al-Zawahri: a top leader of al-Qaeda, an enemy of America and one of the masterminds behind the attacks on September 11th. The President is to be commended for his strong leadership to keep Americans safe and to deliver justice to this despicable terrorist," Pelosi said.

She added that the Unites States was determined to "hunt down terrorists" that posed a threat to Americans and that the counterterrorism capabilities of the country were unrivaled.

Biden said on Monday that an al-Qaeda chief was killed in a US air strike in Afghanistan on Saturday. On Tuesday, the US State Department accused the Taliban* of violating the 2020 Doha deal, under which the Islamist group promised to never harbor terrorists in return for US military pullout from Afghanistan. The Taliban in turn reportedly condemned the attack as a violation of international principles and the Doha deal.

*al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other states

* The Taliban is an organization sanctioned by the United Nations for terrorist activities