Experts Fear Afghanistan Will Remain Fertile Ground for Terrorism

WASHINGTON - With U.S. and coalition combat troops all but gone from Afghanistan, Western officials are preparing to face down terrorist threats with the promise of "over-the-horizon" capabilities that may be ill-suited to the danger that groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State currently pose. "The most important issue, it is #Afghanistan" per #Tajikistan FM Sirojiddin Muhriddin "On this issue & on fighting against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking...the United States is a very reliable partner" he adds

U.S. officials, both publicly and privately, insist both terror groups are a shadow of their former selves. Al-Qaida, they say, commands maybe several hundred fighters across Afghanistan, while the Islamic State's Afghan affiliate, IS-Khorasan, has slightly more. And while IS-Khorasan has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks, especially in urban areas, intelligence and humanitarian officials say that both groups are unlikely to do anything that would make them an easy target for U.S. bombers or drones flying into Afghanistan from afar. "Al-Qaida, probably for the foreseeable future, is probably going to tie its fortunes very closely with the Taliban," one Western counterterrorism official told VOA.