• Sherpur, or the town of thieves, was the name given to it by Kabulis.
• The Taliban took over some of the abandoned villas near several high-walled Western embassies.
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• It is known for its flashy multi-story houses, which Kabulis derided as gaudy.

The first evidence of a months-long operation emerged when an attack rocked Kabul’s centre in the early hours of Sunday morning: we heard two huge explosives on our street nearby.

Speculation raged about who or what had struck Sherpur’s “empty house.”

It is a neighbourhood that has become known over the last two decades for its flashy multi-story houses, which Kabul people have derided as the bastion of corrupt warlords and bureaucrats, a gaudy symbol of the spoils of a brutal war.

Choorpur, or the town of thieves, was the name given to it by Kabulis. The Taliban took over some of the abandoned villas near several high-walled Western embassies, which also closed when the Taliban took control.

Every day, fresh puzzle pieces emerged: a suspected hit on an Islamic State target; the use of a US drone, which generated even more doubts; and the presence of US forces on the ground.

The riddle was solved early Tuesday morning.

We attempted to approach the location on a key route heading into the street, past Spinney’s luxury store and the Afghan Ghazanfar bank, as Kabul awoke to the news that the US had assassinated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike.

A single Taliban guard crossed his arms violently to warn us away.

We walked around the rear of the villa from a side street.

Guards and workers in neighbouring buildings identified which house was hit on Sunday; balconies jutting from the top story were now covered in green plastic sheeting.

“The house was vacant,” the refrain went. Was this a planned response, a repeat of the Taliban’s official statement?

Owners of adjoining buildings told us that they had been forced hours before to close their rooftops to everyone, including their own employees.

As word of Zawahiri’s assassination spread like an electric current on social media, the scene of this dramatic moment appeared unusually peaceful.

On this hot summer day, traffic flowed along the neighbouring tree-lined streets. But as the minutes passed, more journalists arrived, more passers-by stopped, and more Taliban guards appeared.

“If you don’t listen to me, I’ll speak to you through my gun,” one armed Talib warned a colleague as we stood on the main street.

A group of Afghan and foreign journalists approached us, one in tears following an argument on the main road leading to the front of the house.

Her equipment had been forcibly removed. The item was then returned.

What had previously been whispers became more audible.

There was talk that Arabs had been observed moving through these streets in recent months. Nobody dared to say much about it.

A nearby local journalist informed us: “In the last few months, we’ve observed non-Afghan people in this neighbourhood. They don’t speak the native languages. We have no idea who they are.”

There are many questions, conspiracies, and conceivable outcomes now.

Ayman al-death, Zawahiri’s a top target on America’s wanted list, had been reported previously, notably last year, when he was supposed to have died of illness.

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