Fear of Terror Revival Grows in Afghanistan as US Troops Withdraw
Voice of America
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.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, right, and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, left, leave a podium after marking Independence Day in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024. Demonstrators with Georgian national and EU flags rally during an opposition protest against a foreign influence bill as they mark their country's Independence Day, in the center of in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024.