Afghanistan unrest may encourage extremism inside US, says FBI director

The risk of a 9/11-type assault has diminished during the last 20 years, however the Taliban victory in Afghanistan may embolden US-based extremists on the similar time that the FBI is confronting rising threats from people motivated by racial and political grievances, prime nationwide safety officers warned Tuesday.

Christine Abizaid, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, testified earlier than the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the terrorism menace to the nation is much less “acute” than it was twenty years in the past and that the hazard posed in Afghanistan by teams like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State is for the time being primarily a regional menace.FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that although extremist teams have by no means stopped plotting assaults towards the US, the FBI is best positioned to cease them.Read | 20 years of 9/11: From Terror to War on Terror to Return of TerrorEven so, the officers stated, the collapse of the Afghanistan authorities and the potential ascendancy of international terror teams there may encourage Westerners to commit acts of violence. That’s on prime of a home terrorism caseload that Wray stated has “exploded” because the spring of 2020 from about 1,000 investigations to round 2,700.“We are concerned that, with developments in Afghanistan — among other things — that there will be more inspiration to the first bucket,” Wray stated of the worldwide terrorism menace. “So I think we anticipate, unfortunately, growth in both categories as we look ahead over the next couple of years.”U.S. officers say they’re monitoring the state of affairs in Afghanistan following the speedy Taliban blitz, notably with a watch on how al-Qaida or the Islamic State group may rebuild to the purpose of having the ability to conduct an assault focusing on the US Even if the phobia menace is now much less acute than it as soon as was, additionally it is changing into extra “ideologically diffuse and geographically diverse,” Abizaid stated.“In the wake of our withdrawal, the question is at what point does that regional threat build to a capability and intent that is focused externally, and particularly focused on the homeland,” she stated.Read | Satellite photographs present how 9/11 assault regarded like, what has modified after 20 years“I would say from an intelligence community perspective, that’s one of our highest priorities, is just to monitor and assess the degree to which those groups actually present an external threat.”Officials additionally defended the vetting course of they’ve in place to display the backgrounds of Afghanistan refugees searching for entry into the US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated the variety of refugees denied entry has been minimal as a result of “we have not found many people with derogatory information relative to those who qualify for admission to the United States by reason of their status.”“The [screening] architecture that has been built over 20 years since 9/11 remains in place and has only strengthened,” he stated.“We have a screening and vetting architecture. We have greater cooperation amongst the federal agencies in the counterterrorism, intelligence and law enforcement communities. We remain ever vigilant in that regard,” he added.Read | I blame myself: Ex-ticket agent who checked in two 9/11 hijackers on flight that crashed into PentagonWatch | Remembering 9/11: Twenty years later