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But questions remain about how the U.S. will respond to the Taliban's actions in sheltering al-Zawahiri. Senior members of the Taliban were aware of his presence in Kabul this year, the senior administration official told reporters Monday.

The official also said Haqqani Taliban members took actions after the airstrike to conceal al-Zawahiri's presence at the location and acted quickly to remove al-Zawahiri's wife, his daughter and her children to another location consistent with a broader effort to cover up that they had been living in the safe house.

Sullivan said the U.S. is in direct communication with the Taliban but did not reveal any specifics on how exactly the Taliban will be held accountable.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also declined to provide additional details on what specific steps the U.S. will take to hold the Taliban accountable during Tuesday's press briefing, but said the \"strike itself shows how serious we are about accountability.\"

“It shows how serious we are about defending our interests,\" Kirby added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday the Taliban \"grossly\" violated the Doha Agreement by sheltering al-Zawahiri. In the 2020 agreement, the Taliban said they wouldn't harbor al-Qaeda members.

\"They also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for recognition from and normalization with the international community,\" Blinken said. \"In the face of the Taliban's unwillingness or inability to abide by their commitments, we will continue to support the Afghan people with robust humanitarian assistance and to advocate for the protection of their human rights, especially of women and girls.\"

Despite the Taliban's sheltering of al-Zawahiri, Kirby told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega that Afghanistan will \"never\" become a safe haven for terrorists.

\"If you were to ask the members of al-Qaeda, ask them how safe they feel in Afghanistan right now,\" Kirby said. \"I think we proved ... this weekend that it isn't a safe haven and it isn't going to be going forward.\"

ABC News' Ben Gittleson, Trish Turner, Allison Pecorin and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.

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