The US withdrawal from Afghanistan empowers international terrorism
In a stunning statement last Friday in which he defended his withdrawal decision, President Joe Biden claimed that Al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan.
Longtime Israeli diplomat Dore Gold, currently president of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The glaring problem with that claim is that Biden did not have the backing of the American security establishment to make it. An hour after Biden spoke, Defense Department Press Secretary John Kirby stated, “We know Al-Qaeda is a presence in Afghanistan.”
A Defence Department report to Congress issued on Aug. 17 plainly states, “The Taliban continued to maintain its relationship with al-Qaeda, providing safe haven for the terrorist group in Afghanistan.” Roughly at the same time, the Taliban released 5,000 prisoners from Bagram airbase, which included Al-Qaeda and Islamic State operatives.
Nor was there a consensus on this issue within what had been the Western alliance. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that Western states needed to unite to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a sanctuary for international terrorist organizations. There were regular reports from the United Nations Security Council that looked at this question as well. In the twelfth report of its monitoring team, it is established that “a significant part of the leadership of al-Qaeda resides in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region.”
The Al-Qaeda presence was not confined to the borders alone. The report continues: “Large numbers of al-Qaeda fighters and other foreign extremist elements aligned with the Taliban are located in various parts of Afghanistan.” It also makes clear that these were not peripheral elements of Al-Qaeda but rather its “core leadership.”
Britain’s defence minister, Ben Wallace, also asserted that Al-Qaeda “will probably come back.” He makes reference to a U.N. report that states Al-Qaeda is present in 15 of Afghanistan’s provinces. He also is aware of the fact that many in the West see Afghanistan as a “failed state,” and notes that failed states have a propensity to become headquarters for terrorist groups.
The director of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, warned in July that Al-Qaeda would seek to re-establish its training facilities in Afghanistan if the opportunity opened up. Allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Bundestag condemned Biden’s decision to rapidly withdraw from Afghanistan.
So what was motivating the new U.S. drive to accelerate the military withdrawal? Many in Washington made reference to the agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration from February 2020 on the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan.
However, the agreement made the withdrawal dependent upon the implementation by the Taliban of its commitment to not allow Al-Qaeda to use Afghan territory against American forces. Part Two of the agreement contains a commitment by the Taliban “to prevent any group or individual, including al-Qaeda, from using the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States or its allies.”
There also was an underlying assumption, common in the West, that withdrawal would reduce the hostility of the Taliban and their allies. But this thinking represents a misunderstanding of what motivates jihadist groups; Al-Qaeda formally came into existence after the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan. Across the Middle East, withdrawals have only strengthened the motivation of these groups.
The Israeli experience has been identical: When the Israel Defense Forces unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas went on to win the Palestinian elections and then take over the Gaza Strip from Fatah. To defeat the jihadist forces it is necessary to accompany withdrawal with actions that leave no doubt as to that defeat. But it does not seem that President Biden will pursue such a strategy, leaving the West with an empowered Al-Qaeda to fight against in the years ahead.
Dore Gold is the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and the current president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
This article was first published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
