The senior military commander considered that the new Taliban leaders in the country are “divided” over whether or not they will fulfill their pledge, made in 2020, to cut ties with the organization.
“The departure of US military and intelligence assets from Afghanistan has made it more difficult to track down al-Qaeda and other extremist groups there,” McKenzie said in an interview with the Associated Press.
“We probably have about 1 or 2 percent of the capabilities that we had before in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that “this makes it very difficult, not impossible to ensure that al-Qaeda or the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan does not pose a threat to the United States.” .
McKenzie explained that “it is clear that al-Qaeda is trying to rebuild its presence inside Afghanistan,” knowing that it planned from there the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.
He added that some militants are coming into the country through its fragile borders, but it is difficult for the United States to track the numbers.
The US invasion that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks led to a 20-year war that initially succeeded in removing the Taliban from power but ultimately failed with the movement’s return to power.
After US President Joe Biden announced last April his complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban systematically overcame the Afghan government’s defenses, even taking control of the capital, Kabul, in August with the departure of Western forces.
That would complicate efforts to control the al-Qaeda threat, McKenzie and other senior US military and national security officials said before the US withdrawal, in part due to the loss of intelligence on the ground and the absence of a US-friendly government in Kabul.
The United States asserts that it will rely on air strikes using drones and other aircraft stationed outside the borders of Afghanistan, to respond to any extremist threats against the United States.
McKenzie added that “no such strikes have been carried out since the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30,” and noted that his country’s ability to conduct such strikes depends on the availability of intelligence, overhead images, and other information and communications, and “this structure remains Currently under development.”
Al Qaeda is among the many extremist groups inside Afghanistan, and after 2001 lost most of its ability to directly threaten the US mainland, but McKenzie said he retains an “ambitious desire” to attack the United States.
During its first rule in Kabul, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban offered sanctuary to al-Qaeda, and rejected Washington’s demand after 9/11 to expel the group and hand over its leader, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban and al-Qaeda have maintained relations since then.
“So we’re still trying to figure out exactly how the Taliban will act against them, and I think in a month or two it will become much clearer to us,” McKenzie said.
Similarly, McKenzie said it was not yet clear how aggressively the Taliban would pursue ISIS, which has violently attacked the movement across the country.
The United States blamed ISIS for a suicide bombing on August 26 outside Kabul airport that killed 13 American soldiers during the final days of the evacuation.
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