Despite the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan almost a year ago, the July 31 drone strike against al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in downtown Kabul demonstrated that the United States retains substantial intelligence capacity inside this war-torn country. Through a probable combination of remote monitoring and local human sources, the U.S. tracked Zawahiri for months and identified distinctive behavior — such as his tendency to regularly walk out onto his balcony — that made him vulnerable to attack. That the United States went ahead with the strike, the first in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in late August 2021, reflects the realization in Washington that the regime in Kabul will not become even a limited partner. Reversing some recent tentative efforts at engagement, the United States looks to double down on over-the-horizon strikes and other unilateral means to ensure its security interests in Afghanistan. …
