US pullout from Afghanistan strengthened IS: ex-CENTCOM chief

McKenzie says he believed the IS had always wanted to attack Americans on their soil.

WASHINGTON: The militant Islamic State group (IS) has become a more enduring threat than Al Qaeda after the US withdrawal from Afghanis­tan, Gen Kenneth Frank McKenzie, former head of the US Central Command, said in television interviews last week.

Gen Erik Kurilla, the curr­ent Centcom chief, had voiced similar apprehensions in a rec­ent interview, saying that the IS could carry out an “external operation” against the United States in less than six months.

Gen McKenzie, who retired in April last year, headed Cen­t­com — which is responsible for operations in Middle East, Cen­tral Asia and parts of South Asia — during the withdrawal. His command included both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Asked how he viewed Gen Kurilla’s warning of an IS att­ack within “six months”, McKenzie said he believed the IS had always wanted to attack Americans on their soil. “It’s a core tenet, a core belief of theirs,” he added. 

“As a result of our withdrawal from Afgha­n­­istan, it is now far more difficult for us to pursue those obj­ectives (fighting terrorists).”

As a general who oversaw the Afghan withdrawal, Gen McKenzie was invited by television channels to share his views with the American public.

In his interviews to Fox News and CBS, Gen McKenzie said Al Qaeda had weakened since the Aug 2021 pullout, but “I do believe that ISIS, particularly in Afghanistan, is taking advantage of the vast ungoverned spaces that are there. And I believe they are in fact gathering strength”.

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