The previous head of U.S. Central Command warned Sunday that the Islamic terror group ISIS has a “strong desire” to assault the U.S. and different international powers, a risk he suspects is rising.
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie informed ABC Information’ “This Week” that U.S. officers ought to “believe them when they say that.”
“I think the threat is growing,” McKenzie mentioned, noting threats from ISIS-Ok after the group took duty for a deadly attack in Moscow, Russia, final month that killed greater than 140 individuals. The fear group additionally claimed duty for a mass bombing in Iran in January.
“It began to grow as soon as we left Afghanistan, it took pressure off ISIS-K,” McKenzie mentioned, referring to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the nation in 2021. “So I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners and other nations abroad. I think this is inevitable.”
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Then-Gen. Kenneth McKenzie listens throughout a Senate Armed Providers Committee listening to on the conclusion of navy operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. (Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Instances by way of AP, Pool)
McKenzie, who commanded U.S. forces within the Center East, together with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, mentioned the U.S. holds a big sufficient navy presence in Iraq and Syria to fight extremists within the area.
The retired basic maintains that the U.S. ought to have stored a small troop presence in Afghanistan amid the exit as a substitute of fully pulling out and ending the longest warfare in U.S. historical past.
President Biden beforehand claimed there can be an “over-the-horizon capability” to “act quickly and decisively” in Afghanistan, even with troops not stationed within the area.
McKenzie mentioned the U.S. now has “almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country,” which he says advantages ISIS and other terror groups.
“If you can keep pressure on them … in their homeland and their base, it makes it hard for them to conduct these types of attacks,” he mentioned. “Unfortunately, we no longer place that pressure on them, so they’re free to gain strength, they’re free to plan, they’re free to coordinate.”
McKenzie mentioned he believes “things would be different” and “we might actually be safer than we are” if the U.S. and its allies stored a small presence in Afghanistan, prolonging navy involvement within the area.
The lethal assault in Moscow on March 22 highlights the specter of terror teams having the ability to regroup and plan large-scale operations, McKenzie mentioned.
Regardless of the risks, these efforts by the fear teams are extra simply detectable, McKenzie mentioned. The U.S. mentioned it alerted the Kremlin to a potential terror plot weeks earlier than that assault occurred.
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Retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie warned that ISIS has a “strong desire” to assault the U.S. and different international powers. (Rod Lamkey/Pool by way of AP)
“I 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,” McKenzie mentioned.
The suspects within the Moscow assault opened fireplace in one of many largest procuring and leisure complexes in Russia earlier than a hearth broke out within the advanced, based on the Russian Overseas Safety Service.
A U.S. counter-terrorism official informed the New York Submit that ISIS-Ok terrorists might cross by means of the U.S. borders and perform an assault much like the one in Moscow. The official mentioned ISIS is rising “bolder” and that its members might try and benefit from the chaos on the southern border and search out a “bigger” goal.
“An attack on US soil is definitely a possibility,” the official mentioned. “It would certainly send a message.”
McKenzie’s feedback on Sunday additionally come after European leaders warned in regards to the prospect of warfare.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk known as on European nations to step up funding of their protection, arguing that the continent will not be prepared for the present “prewar era.”
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie warned of the Islamic State terror group’s “inevitable” risk to the U.S. and different international powers after the lethal assault in Russia final month. (AP Images/Lolita Baldor, File)
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“I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past,” he mentioned in a latest interview with European newspapers earlier than pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It’s real, and it started over two years ago.”
And in January, Swedish protection officers warned about potential warfare because the nation was near becoming a member of NATO, which has formally occurred.
“For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand,” Swedish Civil Protection Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin mentioned on the time at People och Försvars, or “Society and Defense,” annual nationwide convention in Sälen.
“But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,” he mentioned. “Many have said it before me, but let me do so in an official capacity, more plainly and with naked clarity: There could be war in Sweden.”
