The old enemy is back in Afghanistan
Leaving Afghans to their fate will haunt the West, Con Coughlin says.
The return of al Qaeda to southern Afghanistan, where the terrorist group is reported to be plotting a new series of attacks against the West, raises serious questions about the American and British governments’ decision to withdraw their combat forces.
Ever since US president Barack Obama announced that combat operations would cease at the end of 2014, al Qaeda’s leadership has been desperate to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda was driven out of Afghanistan in the wake of the Sep 11 attacks in 2001. But during the 15 years al Qaeda leaders spent hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas, they never gave up on their dream of returning to Afghanistan and reestablishing their terror network.
Now, following the withdrawal of US and British combat forces, they have achieved their goal and have re-established bases in territory previously held by foreign troops. Afghan defence officials, who now have responsibility for trying to control the area, believe al Qaeda will use its new bases to launch terrorist attacks against the West.
Al Qaeda’s return has been possible because of recent gains by their allies, the Taliban, in recapturing territory in the south of the country previously held by British and US forces.
Afghan security forces have been involved in bitter fighting with the Taliban in recent months, and the US claimed a major victory on Sunday with an airstrike they said killed the group’s leader, Mullah Mansoor, over the border in Pakistan. But the Afghan forces have been unable to prevent the Taliban from reclaiming territory in the former British-controlled Helmand province and also around Kandahar, the administrative centre for southern Afghanistan which is regarded as the Taliban’s spiritual home.
British and American government spent more than a decade fighting the Taliban to prevent the country becoming a safe haven for Islamist terror groups like al Qaeda.
The return of the jihadist group will be seen as a vindication of critics of Obama’s decision to end combat operations, who argued the withdrawal was premature as it was undertaken without the Taliban being defeated. There were also concerns that the poorly trained and equipped Afghan security forces would fail to prevent the Taliban from making a comeback.
‘‘We left too early and now we are seeing the consequences,’’ said Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb, who commanded British Special Forces in Afghanistan.
‘‘If you walk off the pitch before the game has been won then you simply forfeit the game, and that is what has happened in Afghanistan.’’
Another general who commanded British forces in Afghanistan said he was so ‘‘angry and frustrated’’ by what had happened since the withdrawal in 2014 that he was unable to give a comment that was printable.
Security experts believe the reestablishment of al Qaeda’s infrastructure in southern Afghanistan is part of a wider effort by its new leadership to rebuild its ability to target the West following the assassination of Osama bin Laden five years ago in Pakistan.
While much of the world’s attention has been focused on the emergence of Islamic State, there has consequently been little focus on al-Qaeda, which at one point seemed in danger of being completely overshadowed by its more fanatical Islamist rival.
While Western policymakers have been distracted by the threat posed by Isis, al Qaeda has been rebuilding throughout the Middle East.