Breaking News: Responding to the drone strike on Al-Zawahiri

Fighting Terror

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, current emir of al-Qaeda and longtime deputy to Osama bin Laden, in Kabul (Afghanistan). Zawahiri’s death raises questions about the succession and the relevance of al-Qaeda in the current terrorist threat landscape, as well as Afghanistan's role following last year's rushed exit by Western forces.
In this episode, Lucinda speaks with Hans-Jakob Schindler, the Senior Director at the Counter Terrorism Project. From 2001 until 2005, Hans headed the federal government of Germany's team investigating al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. Between 2005 and 2011, Hans held the position of First Secretary Political Affairs and Liaison to the Security Forces at the German Embassy in Tehran. Acting as a special advisor to the ambassador, he led the embassy's crisis management team during the 2006 and 2009/10 disturbances in Iran.