Al-Qaeda more likely to reconstitute in Afghanistan, strike US in 1-2 years: Report
Even because the US claims that it achieved its goal in Afghanistan by eliminating potential terror threats to the nation, senior officers within the US intelligence companies have mentioned that terror group al-Qaeda could possibly reconstitute itself in Afghanistan and assault the US in a single or two years.
“The current assessment probably, conservatively, is one to two years for al-Qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland,” Bloomberg quoted Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, as saying.Speaking at an intelligence convention on Tuesday, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier mentioned they have been in search of methods to achieve entry again into Afghanistan with “all kinds of sources and accesses”.“We are prioritising that effort. We’ll continue to prioritise it. But we have to be careful to balance these very scarce resources,” he mentioned.Read | The rise, fall and rise of Taliban: An Afghan StoryFacing a lot criticism over its hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US has maintained that its function to invade Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terror assaults was to not take pleasure in “nation-building exercise”. US President Joe Biden has mentioned that the US’s main targets in Afghanistan have been to disrupt al-Qaeda and kill Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 assaults who was shielded by the then Taliban authorities.CIA Deputy Director David Cohen agreed with the timeline of 1 to 2 years, saying intelligence companies are already seeing actions by al-Qaeda recouping in Afghanistan.However, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines says that Afghanistan is down on the risk checklist after the two-decade American troop presence ended.“We don’t prioritise — at the top of the list — Afghanistan,” Bloomberg quoted Haines as saying on the identical convention.“What we’re looking at is Yemen and Somalia, Syria and Iraq. That’s where we see the greatest threat,” he added.Earlier in June, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin advised a Senate committee that it will take presumably two years for al-Qaeda to develop the capabilities to stage assaults within the US from Afghanistan.(With inputs from Bloomberg)Watch | Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri releases a video on 9/11 anniversary
