Afghanistan: United States predicts that in two years, al-Qaeda could rearm and become a threat again

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency of the United States, Lieutenant-General Scott D. Berrier, assured on Tuesday that in the two years that Al-Qaeda could have rearmed and be prepared to be a “threat”.

“The current assessment, probably conservative, is that within a year or two, Al Qaeda has developed some sort of capacity to, at least, threaten the homeland.», Declared Berrier during a national security event, informs New times.

As the Taliban pledged in February 2020 peace accords with the United States not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a terrorist base of operations, the White House office The first reports have already arrived that Al-Qaeda, a traditional ally of the insurgent group, has already carried out its first actions.

Berrier pointed out that The challenge now is to develop other means of “accessing” Afghanistan, while the security and intelligence agencies are continuing their actions vis-à-vis China and Russia.

Coincide with Lieutenant General Berrier, the deputy director of the CIA, David Cohen, who also indicated that within two years, al-Qaeda will again be “a threat” to the United States even before they can be detected.

Although US officials have yet to confirm the presence of former Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power a month ago, some reports claim that Osama bin Laden’s former security chief Amin al Haq may have returned to the country.

However, the director of national intelligence, Avril D. Haines, has ruled out for the moment that Afghanistan is the greatest danger to the security of the United States and has pointed the finger at Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Iraq as potential threats in this regard.

Despite everything, the American authorities themselves have recognized for months that The main threat to the national security of the United States is “domestic terrorism” on the part of far-right groups and white supremacists.

The UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons said Thursday that the Taliban have already “visibly welcomed and sheltered” members of Al-Qaeda and called on the international community to unite to prevent the collapse of the Afghan economy.

Two days ago, on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the leader of the terrorist group, Ayman al Zawahiri, posted a video refute rumors about his supposed death after speculation about his death from natural causes in November.

The hour-long recording was posted on social media and in this one welcomes the January 1 car bomb attack on a Russian military base in Tel Saman, Syria, claimed at the time by Al-Qaeda affiliate Huras al Din.

“The current phase forces us to exhaust the enemy until they moan and moan from economic and military bleeding. One of the most significant operations in this regard was that of Tel Saman “Al Zawahiri said.

“This operation is a practical example of how to break the military pressure of the enemy,” he said, while He praised the attacks “on enemy soil”.

Al Zawahiri, surgeon by profession, He was named al-Qaeda leader in 2011 after the death of Osama bin Laden in a US special forces operation in Pakistan.

After bin Laden’s death, Al Zawahiri took command of the organization, which was reduced to a network with many branches but no central leadership, weakened by the successive losses of its commanders and the alleged poor health of the Egyptian.

(With information from Europa Press)

Read on: