Hi, Daily Signer listeners. This is Samantha Rank with the bonus episode of the Daily

Signal Podcast. President Joe Biden shared the news Monday that the United States had

killed Al Qaeda leader, I'm in Zawahari, in a drone strike last week. Joining me today

to discuss this news, what this means for the future of Al Qaeda and terrorist ops in

the Middle East is Jeff Smith, a research fellow here at the Heritage Foundation's Asian

Study Center. Jeff, thank you so much for joining me today.

That's great to be with you.

Now President Joe Biden announced Monday that the United States had killed Al Qaeda leader

I'm in Zawahari in a drone strike on July 30th, ending a 21-year man hunt. So first and

foremost, Jeff, who exactly was Zawahari and what is the significance of his death?

Well, he was widely considered to be Osama bin Laden's deputy and Al Qaeda's number two

in command and responsible, frankly, for the planning and operation of the 9-11 terrorist

attack. So Zawahari has been a high-level target of the United States, one of the most

wanted people in the world for over 20 years. His terrorist activities predated 9-11.

He's an educated Egyptian who went on to join the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan alongside

bin Laden and the two gradually developed Al Qaeda into one of the world's most notorious

terrorist outfits. Zawahari has since been hiding likely somewhere inside of Pakistan,

releasing videos periodically urging global jihad, you know, expressing extremist sentiments,

and U.S. intelligence caught wind that Zawahari's family had moved into Afghanistan and the

capital Kabul earlier this year and later confirmed that he was also on the premises.

And when they found an opportunity to strike, they took it.

And now what is the future of Al Qaeda? Is there someone who is next in line to essentially

...