General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday that ISIS attacks are likely to “ramp up” in the coming months as the Taliban has struggled to limit the group since taking control of Afghanistan.
“The Taliban is attempting to maintain pressure on ISIS. They’re finding it difficult to do so,” McKenzie told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He added that while spring would typically “begin the fighting season,” ISIS has already launched “some high-profile attacks” in Afghanistan in recent months.
“It is my expectation that ISIS attacks will ramp up in Afghanistan as we go into the summer,” he said.
He added that the Taliban is “much less firm on the al-Qaeda issue, as far as opposing them and being able to limit them.”
The comments come months after McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee in September that is it “yet to be seen” whether the U.S. can deny al-Qaeda and ISIS the ability to use Afghanistan to launch attacks.
“We could get to that point, but I do not yet have that level of confidence,” he said at the time, though President Biden has pledged to prevent the groups from rebuilding to a point where they could attack Americans or the United States.
During the September hearing, which came less than a month after the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of a “real possibility” that al-Qaeda or ISIS could rebuild in Afghanistan as early as spring 2022.
Milley said at the time that the terrorist threat from Afghanistan is less than it was on 9/11 but that “the conditions could be set for a reconstitution of al-Qaeda and/or ISIS.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin agreed during his own testimony in September, saying “there is clearly a possibility” for the terrorist groups to regenerate now that U.S. forces have left the country, which was taken over by the Taliban.
“Al-Qaeda has been degraded over time,” Austin said. “Now, terrorist organizations seek ungoverned spaces so that they can train and equip and thrive and, and so, there is clearly a possibility that that can happen here, going forward.”
“Our goal is to maintain a laser-like focus on this so that it doesn’t happen,” he added.
Source: National Review
