Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States has warned the Taliban not to allow an al Qaeda resurgence within Afghan borders.
With the 20th anniversary of 9/11 only days away, Afghanistan is once again controlled by the Taliban, and there are fears that they could allow extremist groups to operate freely now that the U.S. has withdrawn from the country.
“The whole community is kind of watching to see what happens and whether or not al Qaeda has the ability to regenerate in Afghanistan,” Austin told reporters in Kuwait City at the final stop of his four-day tour of the Persian Gulf states, according to the Associated Press.
“The nature of al Qaeda and [the Islamic State group] is they will always attempt to find space to grow and regenerate, whether it’s there, whether it’s in Somalia, or whether it’s in any other ungoverned space,” he explained. “I think that’s the nature of the organization.”
The Taliban announced their new “caretaker” government on Tuesday, which includes four of the so-called Taliban Five, while the fifth of the five had already been appointed to a position. They also named Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is wanted by the FBI for terrorism charges, as acting interior minister.
Even though the new government is filled with officials with terror ties, Austin said, “We put the Taliban on notice that we expect them to not allow that to happen.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Pentagon officials have repeatedly touted their “over-the-horizon” strike capabilities, but without any boots in Afghanistan, the ability to gather intelligence is severely lacking, experts told the Washington Examiner. They acknowledged U.S. capabilities have improved over the course of the war but said they’re at a disadvantage compared to where they were months ago when assets were in the region.
Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken both traveled to various Persian Gulf countries over the last week in their first trips to the area since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of August.
