Al-Qaeda could use Afghanistan to attack US within 12 months: Intelligence officials


15-09-2021 12:18 AM

Ammon News -

US intelligence officials warned Tuesday that the terrorist group al-Qaeda could re-establish itself in Afghanistan within the next one to two years.

President Joe Biden ordered the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which ended America’s longest war last month.

But the ensuing events and catastrophic withdrawal led to the complete takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

Concerns are mounting over whether Afghanistan could once again turn into a launchpad for terrorist attacks on the US or its interests abroad.

“We’re thinking about ways to gain access back into Afghanistan with all kinds of sources and accesses,” Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said during a conference on Tuesday.

Berrier also revealed expectations that al-Qaeda could build “some capacity to at least threaten the homeland” within “one to two years.”

 

His assessment of the potential for al-Qaeda to regroup in this period was echoed by CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, who also spoke at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance conference.

Cohen noted that intelligence agencies were already noticing activities by al-Qaeda to re-establish a presence in Afghanistan.

At the same conference, a day earlier, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines seemed to have taken a different stance.

Haines said the “greatest” threat to the US was not from Afghanistan but terrorists in Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Iraq.

“What we’re looking at is Yemen and Somalia, Syria and Iraq. That’s where we see the greatest threat.”

Like many current and former US officials, Haines admitted that the withdrawal from Afghanistan had hindered Washington’s intelligence collecting capabilities.

Nevertheless, Haines said the US would continue to monitor “any possible reconstitution” of terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

*Al Arabiya




  • no comments

Notice
All comments are reviewed and posted only if approved.
Ammon News reserves the right to delete any comment at any time, and for any reason, and will not publish any comment containing offense or deviating from the subject at hand, or to include the names of any personalities or to stir up sectarian, sectarian or racial strife, hoping to adhere to a high level of the comments as they express The extent of the progress and culture of Ammon News' visitors, noting that the comments are expressed only by the owners.
name : *
email
show email
comment : *
Verification code : Refresh
write code :