Top Taliban leader Hanafi slams US drone strike on Zawahiri, says it violates national sovereignty

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 3 (ANI): Second Deputy Prime Minister of Taliban, Abdul Salam Hanafi on Wednesday slammed the US for the drone strike that killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He said that the US drone attack in Kabul violated both national sovereignty and the Doha Agreement and that Afghan territory will not be used against any country, reported Tolo News.
"These issues are still unclear to us, the only thing we know for sure is that a drone attack has taken place, which is against international law and the Doha Agreement. The Islamic Emirate's policy, which has been repeatedly stated to the people, is that our soil is not used against our neighbours," he said.
Analysts said that the US drone attack in the centre of Kabul may harm relations between the international community and Afghanistan, reported Tolo News.
"This (drone strike) means the non-recognition of the Islamic Emirate, now it is 1,000 per cent clear that no one will recognize it, and the US, which has shown some flexibility to give Afghanistan's money, now will definitely not give it," said Sayed Ishaq Gailani, leader of the Afghanistan Solidarity Movement.
One of the terms of the Doha Agreement was to not provide sanctuary to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
After a drone strike was conducted by the US in the Kabul "green zone" of Sherpoor, in which the US said Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of the Al-Qaeda network, was killed, Kabul and Washington have accused each other of violating the Doha agreement.
"After this, every claim the Taliban foreign minister has made or will make at international meetings will be considered false," said Aziz Marij, former diplomat.
"America is trying to use the matter of the existence of Al-Qaeda and the violation of the Doha Agreement to put political pressure on Afghanistan to achieve its aims using this sort of propaganda," said Najibullah Jami, a university lecturer.
The announcement made by American officials stated that the goal of this attack was to kill Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement confirmed that a strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of "international principles," reported Tolo News.
"On August 1, 2022, an air strike was carried out on a residential house in the Sherpoor area of Kabul city. At the outset, the nature of the incident was not revealed. The security and intelligence agencies of the Islamic Emirate investigated the incident and found in their preliminary investigations that the attack was carried out by American drones. IEA strongly condemns this attack on any cause and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement," read the statement of Taliban. (ANI)