Another problem in Afghanistan: Warning to the US Secretary of State! Will the Taliban open the door to this threat? – Topky.sk

“That’s the essence of this organization,” Austin told a small group of reporters in Kuwait at the end of a four-day trip through the Gulf states. The minister added that the US is making preparations to prevent the return of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, as this would endanger the United States.

The Taliban provided al-Qaeda sanctuary in 1996-2001

The Taliban provided refuge for al-Qaeda from 1996 to 2001, when it ruled in Afghanistan. When the Taliban refused to extradite al-Qaeda leaders after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the Americans invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban. During the 20-year US war, al-Qaeda has shrunk and weakened, but with the Taliban’s recent return to power, questions have once again arisen about its chances in the future. “We warned the Taliban that we expect him not to allow anything like this to happen again,” said Austin, meaning the possibility that al-Qaeda would use Afghanistan as its base for future attacks.

The Taliban has pledged not to support al Qaeda

In a February 2020 deal with the then Donald Trump administration, Taliban leaders pledged not to support al Qaeda or other extremist groups that threatened the United States. However, US officials believe the Taliban are maintaining relations with al Qaeda, and many countries, including the Gulf states, fear that the Taliban’s return to power could open the door to reviving al Qaeda’s influence.

Austin has said emphatically that the U.S. military can deal with al Qaeda or any other extremist threat to the U.S. coming from Afghanistan through surveillance and attack aircraft deployed in other countries, such as the Persian Gulf. He also admitted that without US troops and spy groups operating in Afghanistan, it would be more difficult.

Austin and Blinken expressed gratitude to the United States

Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared together in Qatar on Tuesday to express gratitude to the United States for helping the transit of tens of thousands of Afghans and other people evacuated from the Afghan capital Kabul in the Persian Gulf. Blinken also visited an evacuation transit point in Germany and Austin visited Bahrain and Kuwait.

On Saturday, the United States will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. Fifteen men hijacked commercial airliners and crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC) skyscrapers, nicknamed the Twins in New York, the Pentagon, and one ended up in a field in Pennsylvania. These men were Saudi Arabians, as was al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. His terrorist network organized this attack on the United States at its base in Afghanistan.