WASHINGTON – The same terrorist group that killed 13 US service members and hundreds of Afghans during the pullout from Kabul in 2021 could be ready to strike American assets abroad as early as this summer, the head of US Central Command told Congress on Thursday.
CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Kurilla said ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) – the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State terror group – has been growing in strength under the Taliban’s rule of the country following the end of the US’ 20-year war there.
“It is my commander’s estimate that [ISIS-K] can do an external operation against US or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee
“It’s much harder for them to be able to do that against the [US] homeland,” he added.
Though its parent organization has long been well known, ISIS-K first made international headlines when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest outside Hamid Karzai International Airport as US and coalition troops were processing evacuees on Aug. 26, 2021.
Kurilla declined to publicly share why he assessed the group would be ready to strike outside Afghanistan’s borders soon, saying he would tell lawmakers his reasoning in a subsequent closed session.
However, the general attributed some of the terror network’s growth in Afghanistan to the Taliban’s destructive leadership there.
“Extremist groups see opportunity, and ISIS-Khorasan grows emboldened, seeking to expand its ranks and inspire enable and direct attacks in the region and beyond – with the ultimate goal to strike on the American homeland,” he said.
The US had ousted the Islamic fundamentalist government at the outset of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, only for them to sweep back into power as US troops left the country two decades later.
Now, its harsh governance is inspiring further tensions in the country, seeding the kind of tumult that terror groups can exploit, Kurilla said.
