Al-Qaeda is able to solely small-scale regional assaults, US official stated. (Representatonal)
Washington:
Al-Qaeda within the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a globally-banned terror group, is now in all probability able to solely small-scale regional assaults, a high American counter-terrorism official informed lawmakers on Thursday.
AQIS was arrange by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2014 to develop the phobia group’s affect within the area.
“In South Asia, al-Qaeda within the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has struggled to rebound from the dying of its chief, Asim Umar, in a US navy raid in Afghanistan in September 2019 and might be solely able to small-scale regional assaults,” Christopher Miller Director, Nationwide Counter-terrorism Heart, informed a Senate committee.
Testifying earlier than the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee on the “Threats to the Homeland”, the highest American counter-terrorism official stated that in mid-March, AQIS revealed a particular situation of Nawai Afghan Jihad praising the US-Taliban settlement, which mirrored al-Qaeda’s leaders” statements on the deal.
“Lastly, al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan has been diminished to some dozen fighters who’re primarily targeted on their survival, and are in all probability incapable of conducting assaults outdoors the nation beneath sustained CT stress,” Mr Miller stated.
In keeping with Mr Miller, because the World Conflict on Terror started practically 20 years in the past, the US has considerably degraded terrorist adversaries and made the US a significantly tougher goal for them to achieve.
“At this time’s terrorism menace to the US and our allies is much less acute however extra diffuse — emanating from extra teams in additional locations than it did in 2001,” he stated.
Whereas continued counter-terrorism stress has degraded the group’s Afghanistan-Pakistan senior management, within the close to time period, al-Qaeda is extra more likely to concentrate on constructing its worldwide associates and supporting small-scale, readily achievable assaults in key areas equivalent to East and West Africa, stated FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“Concurrently, during the last 12 months, propaganda from al-Qaeda leaders seeks to encourage people to conduct their very own assaults within the US and the West. For instance, the December 2019 assault at Naval Air Station Pensacola demonstrates that teams equivalent to al-Qaeda proceed to be concerned with encouraging assaults on the US soil,” he stated.
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