{"id":2210738,"date":"2024-04-01T15:36:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T19:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-has-almost-no-ability-to-see-into-afghanistan-as-isis-reconstitutes-former-general-warns\/"},"modified":"2024-04-01T15:36:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T19:36:42","slug":"us-has-almost-no-ability-to-see-into-afghanistan-as-isis-reconstitutes-former-general-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-has-almost-no-ability-to-see-into-afghanistan-as-isis-reconstitutes-former-general-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Former general warns that the US lacks visibility into Afghanistan as ISIS regroups"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-has-almost-no-ability-to-see-into-afghanistan-as-isis-reconstitutes-former-general-warns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2210738&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Gen. Frank McKenzie \u2062warns of ISIS-K&#8217;s \u2064alarming growth in Afghanistan, as\u200c the \u200bUS military lacks the ability \u2064to strike. Despite warnings from military\u200d leaders, President Biden proceeded with a total withdrawal, leaving Afghanistan unchecked. McKenzie believes the \u2062absence of US presence allows ISIS to flourish, posing a significant threat to\u2062 US security. Your summary effectively captures the key \u2064points regarding \u200cGen. Frank McKenzie&#8217;s concerns about ISIS-K&#8217;s\u200c growth in Afghanistan and the potential\u2063 security threat to the US due to the absence \u200dof military presence. It highlights the decision to withdraw troops despite warnings from \u2062military leaders, emphasizing the \u200brisks\u2062 associated with leaving Afghanistan unchecked.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Islamic State Khorasan is growing \u201cunabated\u201d in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/afghanistan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Afghanistan<\/a>, where the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/u-s-military\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>U.S. military<\/a> has \u201calmost no ability to strike,\u201d according to retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former leader of U.S. Central Command.<\/p>\n<p>The threat from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/isis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>ISIS-K<\/a>, which is a regional branch of ISIS, to the U.S. homeland \u201cbegan to grow as soon as [the U.S. military] left Afghanistan\u201d at the end of August 2021, he said during a Sunday interview on ABC\u2019s <em>This Week<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>McKenzie\u2019s successor, Gen. Michael Kurilla, told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee in early March that ISIS-K \u201cretains the capability and will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months and with little to no warning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It has carried out two major attacks in Iran and Russia this year.<\/p>\n<p>ISIS-K has been able to grow without restraint in Afghanistan with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/taliban\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Taliban<\/a> in control. The Taliban overthrew the U.S.-backed Ghani government in August 2021, just two weeks before U.S. forces withdrew from the country, ending a 20-year war.<\/p>\n<p>McKenzie and several other senior military leaders believed the United States should maintain a small military presence in Afghanistan, but President Joe Biden went against their advice and moved ahead with a complete withdrawal. The former CENTCOM commander believed the U.S. may have been safer if the country still had troops there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we might be in a different place now. I think we might actually be safer than we are,\u201d McKenzie said, adding, \u201cOn the other hand, in Afghanistan, we have almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country. And so, ISIS there is able to grow unabated. There\u2019s no pressure on them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, we no longer place that pressure on them, so they\u2019re free to gain strength. They\u2019re free to plan. They\u2019re free to coordinate and to outreach that hit us in our homelands,\u201d he explained, warning that ISIS, as a whole, has a \u201cstrong desire\u201d to attack the continental U.S. and is \u201cgoing to try to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The terrorist group has carried out major attacks outside of Afghanistan in 2024. The first was a bombing in Iran near the burial site of slain military commander Qassem Soleimani. Last month, supposed ISIS-K gunmen killed about 140 people in a Russian mass shooting at a concert hall.<\/p>\n<p>In both instances, the U.S. had intelligence ahead of time about a possible attack and warned Tehran and Moscow, but neither country acted in time to stop the attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem that ISIS-K has and all these organizations have is when they want to conduct an attack abroad, they have to communicate. And that communication is often something that we have the opportunity to listen to, to gain knowledge of, and that can be reasonably precise,\u201d McKenzie said. \u201cI think there was probably good opportunity for the Russians to have averted this attack had they actually listened to the material that was presented to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The terrorist attack in Russia provided a stark example of Kurilla\u2019s warning from only weeks earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Kurilla told lawmakers ISIS-K could likely carry out a terrorist attack in Eurasia or Europe within six months but did not specify a time frame for when it might have the capability to attack the U.S. homeland.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), a former Green Beret, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/isis-back-us-doesnt-dare-ignore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>wrote<\/a> in a Fox News op-ed published on Monday that the situation developing in Afghanistan is reminiscent of the consequences of then-President Barack Obama\u2019s decision to withdraw from Iraq, which allowed ISIS to establish a caliphate across Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Department of Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters last week, \u201cAs it relates to ISIS, I think it\u2019s very important to understand that the Department of Defense has not taken its eye off of ISIS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the U.S. has a military presence in Iraq and Syria, where anti-ISIS missions are carried out alongside the\u00a0Syrian\u00a0Democratic Forces, the Defense Department is engaged in conversations with the Iraqi government about their long-term military partnership. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, former U.S. Central Command leader, warns of ISIS-K&#8217;s unchecked growth in Afghanistan. The U.S. military&#8217;s limited strike capability raises concerns about the threat posed by this regional ISIS branch, potentially impacting U.S. security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2671,"featured_media":2210739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24079739098807-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2210738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24079739098807-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2671"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2210738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2210739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2210738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2210738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2210738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}