US Intelligence Sees ‘Significant Risk’ in Afghanistan Withdrawal

WASHINGTON - The plan to pull troops from Afghanistan could give terrorist groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State a chance to regenerate the capabilities they would need to carry out an attack against the United States, according to top U.S. intelligence officials. #Afghanistan: "I was at the table for a number of discussions leading up to the decision" per @ODNIgov Dir Haines "I'm not sure that the decision was made in a specific meeting" "We have now over 2,000 investigations that tie back to the Chinese gvt" per @FBI's Wray "On the economic espionage investigation side alone, it's about a 1300% increase over the last several years." "We're opening a new investigation into China every 10 hours" "What our adversaries are doing right now, it's not spear-phishing. It's not guessing passwords" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "It's utilizing supply chain operations. It's using zero day vulnerabilities...We call that, 'above best practices'"

Their warning, coming the same day U.S. President Joe Biden formally announced his decision to end America’s longest-running war, touches on the deep-rooted concerns many current and former U.S. officials have voiced about pulling 2,500 to 3,500 troops from Afghanistan, along with thousands of trainers and contractors. It also may serve to fuel further criticism of the withdrawal, with critics seizing on fears that the conditions that allowed Afghanistan to become a haven for terrorists could soon return, despite nearly two decades of fighting. "There is a significant risk once the U.S. military and the coalition militaries withdraw," Bill Burns, recently confirmed director of the CIA, told lawmakers Wednesday.