Thursday 15 September 2022 10:38 PM Declassified intelligence report reveals warning that ISIS would regain its ... trends now
A newly declassified report revealed on Thursday that American intelligence officials warned two years ago that the Islamic State would regain its strength if the U.S. and allies let up their campaign against the terrorist group.
The report was written in May 2020, soon after President Donald Trump agreed a deal with the Taliban to withdraw troops, and a year before President Joe Biden announced he would have them out by September 11, an operation ultimately marred by an ISIS attack that killed 13 U.S. service members.
Since then, terrorism experts have warned that the absence of troops is handicapping Washington's ability to monitor the growth of ISIS there.
'ISIS almost certainly will continue to inspire attacks globally, albeit at a reduced pace from 2016-17; inspired attacks very likely will remain the primary ISIS threat to the US homeland,' says the report.
'If the United States and our partners pull back or withdraw further from areas where ISIS is active, the group's trajectory will increasingly depend on local governments' will and capability to fill the resulting security voids.'
A newly declassified report revealed on Thursday that American intelligence officials warned two years ago that the Islamic State would regain its strength if the U.S. and allies let up their campaign against the terrorist group
The 2020 report was declassified and published (in redacted form) on Thursday by the Office of the Nation Director of Intelligence. It set out forecasts for ISIS
The report was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in redact form.
It said the group was rebuilding core capabilities in Iraq and Syria. And it said its branches in other parts of the world, 'are likely to increase the group's capability to conduct attacks in many regions of the world, including the West.'
Its branch in Afghanistan - Islamic State Khorasan - is at war with Afghanistan, and claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Kabul airport, killing 13 Americans and at least 170 Afghans.
The general who oversaw the U.S. withdrawal was among those who recently warned that America was now less safe as a result.
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, who retired as the head of U.S. Central Command this year, told the BBC: 'We were in Afghanistan to prevent the development of violent extremist organisations that were flourishing there, particularly al Qaeda and ISIS, and I believe we have less capability now than we did before to monitor and suppress the development of those activities.
Biden promised an 'over-the-horizon counterterrorism capability' when troops left. However, U.S. officials struggled to win over the cooperation of neighboring countries needed to allow drones to reach Afghan airspace.
That appeared to change with the recent killing of Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahri, who died in a drone strike on his Kabul home.
U.S. special forces also killed the head of the Islamic State group in a February raid in northwest Syria.
Members of the Taliban are seen here, outside the former US embassy in Kabul, marking the first anniversary of their takeover of Afghanistan in August
Gen. Frank McKenzie has retired since overseeing the Afghanistan withdrawal and has given a string of interviews to mark the anniversary. In an interview broadcast on Tuesday, he said the U.S. was now less safe than it was when U.S. forces were in the country
