US plans fight from afar against al-Qaeda
US troops are set to leave Afghanistan no later than Sept 11, but the Pentagon, US spy agencies and Western allies are refining plans to deploy a less visible but still potent force in the region to prevent the country from again becoming a terrorist base.
The Pentagon is discussing with allies about where to reposition forces, possibly to neighbouring Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, according to US officials.
Attack planes aboard aircraft carriers and long-range bombers flying from land bases could strike insurgent fighters spotted by armed surveillance drones. But there are risks.
Afghan commandos who have been providing the bulk of intelligence on insurgent threats could disintegrate after the US withdraws, leaving a large hole to fill.
Turkey is leaving troops behind who could help the CIA collect intelligence on al-Qaeda cells, officials note.
Still, planners in Washington have been developing options to offset the loss of US combat boots on the ground, and President Joe Biden said on
Wednesday that the revised approach would keep al-Qaeda at bay.
“We will not take our eye off the terrorist threat,” Mr Biden said in a televised address from the White House. “We will reorganise our counterterrorism
capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent reemergence of terrorist threat to our homeland.”
But some people warned that absent the unrelenting pressure from US Special Operations forces and intelligence operatives in the country, al-Qaeda could make a comeback in Talibandominated Afghanistan.
“As good as our intelligence and over-the-horizon capabilities are, there is no substitute for being there,” Joseph Maguire, a former acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, said in an interview. “Our effectiveness in protecting our homeland will be significantly diminished.”
Even as military officials rushed to flesh out the details of Mr Biden’s revised plan, top defence officials appear to have ruled out for now two other options that could be employed if this revised approach falls short.
More than 16,000 civilian contractors now provide security, logistics and other support in Afghanistan, according to recent figures compiled by the Pentagon.
Under Mr Biden’s order, the United States is withdrawing 2,500 troops from Afghanistan, but the Pentagon actually has about 1,000 more troops on the ground there than it has publicly acknowledged.