DUBAI, 20 December 2003 — Arabic television Al-Jazeera yesterday aired an audio tape purportedly of Al-Qaeda’s second in command Ayman Al-Zawahri, saying the United States was defeated in Afghanistan and his group was chasing Americans everywhere, including the United States.
“America has been defeated by our fighters despite all its military might, its weaponry...With God’s help we are still chasing Americans and their allies everywhere, including their homeland,” said the speaker who sounded like Zawahri, believed to be Osama Bin Laden’s deputy.
Zawahri’s warning came as a US intelligence official said US authorities were studying a terror threat to New York City and were “very concerned” by the volume of threats to US interests at home and overseas.
The United States leads a 12,000-strong force in Afghanistan after a US-led 2001 invasion ousted the hard-line Taleban, which gave shelter to Al-Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants are still active in the southeast of Afghanistan. Egyptian-born Zawahri joined up with Bin Laden in 1998 and was indicted in New York two years ago in connection with the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
