CIA reveals model of Al Qaeda leader's safe house

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CIA reveals model of Al Qaeda leader's safe house

The CIA has revealed a model of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri's safe house, which was used to brief US President Joe Biden before the CIA killed the terrorist chief in a drone strike in Afghanistan.

After Zawahri's death, White House officials released a picture showing Mr Biden talking to CIA Director William Burns with a closed wooden box on the table in front of him.

The contents of the box, a model depicting a white-walled home with at least five stories and three partially obscured balconies, is now on display at the CIA MuseumCIA Museum inside the agency's headquarters in Virginia.

The museum, which has been refurbished for the agency's 75th anniversary, is closed to the public and is usually limited to the agency's employees and guests.

In July, Zawahri was killed, nearly a year after the US withdrew from Afghanistan, ending a two-decade war in which the CIA had a central role.

The Biden administration said the strike showed that it retained an over-the-horizon counterterrorism capacity in Afghanistan.

However, opponents and analysts disagreed that Zawahri's presence in a Kabul neighbourhood suggests extremist groups like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State were stronger under the Taliban.

The strike was particularly significant for the CIA, which lost seven employees in attempting to locate Zawahri, a key plotter of the September 11 attacks who was then Al Qaeda's second-in command.

On display near the model of Zawahri's home are seven stars honoring the CIA employees, which were previously part of a memorial in Afghanistan.

Other recently revealed artefacts include concept drawings for the fake film that was created as part of a 1980 operation to rescue American diplomats from Iran, the subject of the 2012 movie Argo starring Ben Affleck.

There are also crew uniforms and other items from the Glomar Explorer, the Howard Hughes-built ship that served as a cover for a 1970s mission to surface a sunken Soviet submarine carrying nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

The museum also includes information on the agency's dark moments, including its role in the false assertions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction prior to the US invasion in 2003.

Janelle Neises, the museum's deputy director, said there was a running agency joke that the collection was the greatest museum you'll never see. The number of annual visitors to the museum is classified.

US politicians, officers from other law enforcement and intelligence agencies and foreign officials are among the guests who are known to be among the guests.

CIA employees have started a podcast, and they post about some of the museum's roughly 600 exhibits on social media.

Ms Neises said the goal of the museum was to reinforce lessons from the agency's successes and failures for the current workforce.

The idea is to take the time to look at one section and learn about your history, so leave 10 minutes early, leave 20 minutes early, and just take the time to look at one section, and learn about your history, Ms Neises said.