Afghanistan is once again a staging ground for terrorism, says U.S. intelligence report
Biden's assurances that it wouldn't be were dishonest
In August 2021, Joe Biden defended his disastrous botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. In his remarks, he presented a false choice (as the man who elevated him to national office might put it) to America — the choice between staying in Afghanistan for a third decade and withdrawal, Biden style.
There was, of course, a third way. We could have withdrawn without so much chaos and loss of American lives.
I’ll discuss this point in an upcoming post. In this post, I want to focus on Biden’s dishonest argument in favor of withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Biden argued that Afghanistan was no longer a threat to American security because terrorism had moved elsewhere:
This is a new world. The terror threat has metastasized across the world, well beyond Afghanistan. We face threats from al-Shabaab in Somalia; al Qaeda affiliates in Syria and the Arabian Peninsula; and ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, and establishing affiliates across Africa and Asia.
The fundamental obligation of a President, in my opinion, is to defend and protect America — not against threats of 2001, but against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow.
That is the guiding principle behind my decisions about Afghanistan. I simply do not believe that the safety and security of America is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of American troops and spending billions of dollars a year in Afghanistan.
But I also know that the threat from terrorism continues in its pernicious and evil nature. But it’s changed, expanded to other countries. Our strategy has to change too.
We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries. We just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it. We have what’s called over-the-horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground — or very few, if needed.
Biden was right to this extent: Afghanistan did not pose a serious threat to America in 2021. But that was only because Afghan terrorists faced U.S. troops.
Now, in 2023, Afghan terrorists no longer need to worry about U.S. troops. As a result, the threats of 2023 closely resemble the threats of 2001. Once again, they come to a significant degree from Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan has become a terrorism staging ground again, leak reveals.” So says the lead headline in today’s Washington Post.
The Post backs up its headline with these words:
Less than two years after President Biden withdrew U.S. personnel from Afghanistan, the country has become a significant coordination site for the Islamic State as the terrorist group plans attacks across Europe and Asia, and conducts “aspirational plotting” against the United States, according to a classified Pentagon assessment that portrays the threat as a growing security concern.
The attack planning, detailed in U.S. intelligence findings leaked on the Discord messaging platform and obtained by The Washington Post, reveal specific efforts to target embassies, churches, business centers and the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, which drew more than 2 million spectators last summer in Qatar. Pentagon officials were aware in December of nine such plots coordinated by ISIS leaders in Afghanistan, and the number rose to 15 by February, says the assessment, which has not been disclosed previously.
“ISIS has been developing a cost-effective model for external operations that relies on resources from outside Afghanistan, operatives in target countries, and extensive facilitation networks,” says the assessment, which is labeled top-secret and bears the logos of several Defense Department organizations. “The model will likely enable ISIS to overcome obstacles — such as competent security services — and reduce some plot timelines, minimizing disruption opportunities.”
There is no suggestion that America’s “over-the-horizon” capabilities touted by Biden in August 2021 have disrupted, or are capable of disrupting, the terrorist plotting in Afghanistan. In fact, as we’ll see in a minute, we lack that capability. The Post charitably omits any reference to Biden’s bogus claims about over-the-horizon capabilities and, indeed, any reference to Biden’s dishonest remarks about the withdrawal.
As for Team Biden, the best it could do was to tell the Post that the U.S. took out an ISIS terrorist in Somalia who allegedly had influence in Afghanistan. But, as the Post notes, the U.S. has boots on the ground in Somalia.
The administration also says there hasn’t “been a lot of action at this point” from Afghan-based terrorists. However, last month Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who oversees U.S. military operations in the region, told the House Armed Services Committee that the Islamic State has a stronger presence in Afghanistan than it did a year ago and could be capable of attacks outside the country within six months “with little to no warning.” He added that the United States can see only “broad contours” of the Islamic State’s planning there, not “the full picture.”
In sum, Biden’s people are saying that Afghan-based terrorists have both the desire and (very soon) the capability of terrorizing the West — and that we won’t see it coming.
Near the end of his August 2021 speech, Biden said:
As Commander-in-Chief, I firmly believe the best path to guard our safety and our security lies in a tough, unforgiving, targeted, precise strategy that goes after terror where it is today, not where it was two decades ago. That’s what’s in our national interest.
Now, U.S. intelligence tells him that “terror” is in Afghanistan. Yet, Biden isn’t going after that terrorism.
He can’t. His claims about over-the-horizon capabilities were BS. The general in charge of U.S. military operations in the region has made that clear.
I doubt that many Americans believed Biden’s claims about Afghanistan when he made them. I doubt that many are surprised by the reemergence in Afghanistan of terrorist plotters and plots against the West.
However, our skepticism does not excuse the fact that Joe Biden lied to the American people on a matter of major concern to our national security.
This is certainly correct. Let's keep in mind that the exact same indictment should be leveled against Trump for planning such a withdrawal, though we cannot condemn a specific speech since he never had the opportunity to give one.
Great post. And while Biden has likely brought terrorists to our door through his feckless action and inaction in Afghanistan, it's likely he spawned a more immediate catastrophe, sowing the wind in Afghanistan and reaping the whirlwind in Ukraine. Jim Dueholm