The State Department warns that there is a "higher potential for anti-American violence" following the U.S. killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul over the weekend.

In a "Worldwide Caution" advisory issued Tuesday, the department noted that al-Zawahiri — an architect of terrorist attacks including 9/11 and the 2000 USS Cole bombing — had urged his followers to attack the U.S., and that supporters of al-Qaida or affiliate organizations may seek to do so in the wake of his death.

The killing on Saturday of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri serves the causes of justice and global security. It is a tactical counterterrorism victory that accrues strategic benefit via a weakened al Qaeda.

Still, that Zawahiri was killed after months of residence in the Afghan capital of Kabul evinces a broader strategic loss in terms of U.S. security. It proves the increasing confidence of the Taliban and al Qaeda in reconstituting their traditional, formal relationship as ideological and practical allies.

At first glance, the July 31 killing of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri by a US drone attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, appears to be the most significant setback the group has experienced since the death of its founder, Osama bin Laden, in 2011.

Ayman al-Zawahiri was an intellectual driving force of al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden’s successor as the Islamist group’s leader since 2011. His death in a US strike in Kabul brings justice of sorts for the families of victims of a string of terrorist atrocities including the 9/11 attacks on the US. It demonstrates America’s ability to continue to mount “over-the-horizon” counter-terrorism operations, nearly a year after the ignominious US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

For a year, U.S. officials have been saying that taking out a terrorist threat in Afghanistan with no American troops on the ground would be difficult but not impossible. Last weekend, the U.S. did just that — killing al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri with a CIA drone strike.

The terrorist who played a “central role” in the “Black Hawk Down” attack in Somalia and facilitated the deadly U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa in the 1990s could be the next al Qaeda leader following Ayman al Zawahiri’s death in a U.S. airstrike in Kabul.

President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement Monday night—that a U.S. drone strike over the weekend killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaida and co-architect of the 9/11 terrorist attack—is both more and less significant than it might seem at first glance.

“Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a U.S. strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.” (Reuters)

Both sides praise the strike but worry about the fact that Zawahiri was hiding in Kabul.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri, a founding member of the jihadist movement and one of the key strategists behind an international campaign of terror that culminated in the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., has been killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan, U.S. congressional officials said. He was 71.

One of the key masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks was killed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, according to the White House.

Ayman al-Zawarhi, the Egyptian militant who assumed leadership of the Al Qaeda terror group after the death of Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a drone-strike over the weekend, President Joe Biden said in a primetime announcement to the nation.