US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the United States will continue to be focused on preventing the resurgence of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan as part of its core national security interest
“With regard to Afghanistan, we’ve made clear and we’ve demonstrated since ending America’s longest war that we would continue to be focused on our core national security interest in preventing the resurgence of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, and if necessary, taking action to deal with it,” Blinken said at a press conference in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
“I think we’ve demonstrated quite clearly in recent months our ability to do just that, including eliminating a senior leader of al-Qaida, who was resident in Afghanistan,” Blinken said.
He added that the US is also working with partners, with neighbors to strengthen the capacity to deal with any terrorism that may be located in Afghanistan and emanating from there.
“At the same time, of course, the Taliban is an implacable enemy of ISIS-Khorasan and is itself taking action against that group,” he said. “But regardless of that, we’ve been very clear, and as I said, we’ve demonstrated our ongoing enduring capacity to take necessary actions to protect our security against any terrorism that may be emanating from Afghanistan.”
Analysts said that the Taliban lacks the ability to remove Daesh in Afghanistan.
“Taliban’s capacity is not at the level to remove Daesh threat because if they had the ability, two years were enough for them to address the concerns of the world and the people of Afghanistan in this regard,” said Mohammad Ishaq Atmar, a university lecturer.
Pentagon’s leaked documents have shown that Afghanistan is at risk of once again becoming a hub for planning Daesh attacks.
This comes as Daesh has claimed responsibility for many major bombings in Afghanistan over the past two years of the Taliban rule in the country.
