U.S. defense officials are concerned that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan will allow Al Qaeda to rebuild and consolidate, creating security concerns well outside Afghan borders.
Mohammad Asif Khan / APWith the Taliban steamrolling across Afghanistan, U.S. defense officials are concerned that a Taliban takeover of the country will allow Al Qaeda to rebuild and consolidate, creating security concerns well outside Afghan borders.
But the security vacuum left by the withdrawal of U.S. military forces could create an opening for Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to reorganize, the officials say. "What we're here for is to prevent Al Qaeda and ISIS from being able to reconstitute in the ungoverned spaces, generally of eastern Afghanistan, and be able to plot attacks against our homeland," McKenzie said in the capital, Kabul."That threat is still here today."McKenzie said U.S. counterterrorism forces had made it impossible for Al Qaeda to regenerate and carry out its plans against the West.
"They're emphasizing this idea that let's get our local houses in order in order to consolidate our positions," a senior U.S. official said."And then we will think about global jihad, because that's still on their minds." But the officials believe that a Taliban government in Afghanistan would not stop Al Qaeda from rebuilding and that it will eventually work toward attacks on foreign soil again.The terrorist group has been severely hobbled by two decades of airstrikes and counterterrorism pressure. Al Qaeda's senior leaders and operational planners and many fighters have been killed or have fled the country.
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