Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had been living for months in the heart of Kabul, a short walk from the now-closed British embassy and next door to a house owned by a longtime ally: Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s powerful minister of interior, according to a person briefed by Taliban officials.
In the hours after the terrorist mastermind was killed by a U.S. drone strike as he stood on the balcony of his home, Taliban security officials descended on the building to wipe away signs of Zawahiri’s presence and to escort his wife, daughter and grandchildren to a new location, a senior U.S. administration official said.