Former general warns of Islamic State’s ‘rising’ threats to US after Moscow attack

The former head of U.S. Central Command warned Sunday that the Islamic terror group ISIS has a “strong desire” to attack the U.S. and different international powers, a risk he suspects is rising.

Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie informed ABC News’ “This Week” that U.S. officers ought to “believe them when they say that.”

“I think the threat is growing,” McKenzie stated, noting threats from ISIS-Okay after the group took duty for a lethal attack in Moscow, Russia, final month that killed greater than 140 folks. The terror group additionally claimed duty for a mass bombing in Iran in January.

“It began to grow as soon as we left Afghanistan, it took pressure off ISIS-K,” McKenzie stated, referring to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the nation in 2021. “So I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners and other nations abroad. I think this is inevitable.”

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Then-Gen. Kenneth McKenzie listens throughout a Senate Armed Services Committee listening to on the conclusion of army operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. (Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times through AP, Pool)

McKenzie, who commanded U.S. forces within the Middle East, together with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, stated the U.S. holds a big sufficient army presence in Iraq and Syria to fight extremists within the area.

The retired general maintains that the U.S. ought to have stored a small troop presence in Afghanistan amid the exit as a substitute of fully pulling out and ending the longest struggle in U.S. historical past.

President Biden beforehand claimed there can be an “over-the-horizon capability” to “act quickly and decisively” in Afghanistan, even with troops not stationed within the area.

McKenzie stated the U.S. now has “almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country,” which he says advantages ISIS and different terror teams.

“If you can keep pressure on them … in their homeland and their base, it makes it hard for them to conduct these types of attacks,” he stated. “Unfortunately, we no longer place that pressure on them, so they’re free to gain strength, they’re free to plan, they’re free to coordinate.”

McKenzie stated he believes “things would be different” and “we might actually be safer than we are” if the U.S. and its allies stored a small presence in Afghanistan, prolonging army involvement within the area.

The lethal attack in Moscow on March 22 highlights the risk of terror teams having the ability to regroup and plan large-scale operations, McKenzie stated.

Despite the risks, these efforts by the fear teams are extra simply detectable, McKenzie stated. The U.S. stated it alerted the Kremlin to a doable terror plot weeks earlier than that attack occurred.

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Former Gen. Kenneth McKenzie warned that ISIS has a “strong desire” to attack the U.S. and different international powers. (Rod Lamkey/Pool through AP)

“I think there was probably good opportunity for the Russians to have averted this attack had they actually listened to the material that was presented to them,” McKenzie stated.

The suspects within the Moscow attack opened fireplace in a single of the biggest purchasing and leisure complexes in Russia earlier than a fireplace broke out within the advanced, in accordance to the Russian Foreign Security Service.

A U.S. counter-terrorism official informed the New York Post that ISIS-Okay terrorists might cross by way of the U.S. borders and perform an attack comparable to the one in Moscow. The official stated ISIS is rising “bolder” and that its members might try to take benefit of the chaos on the southern border and hunt down a “bigger” goal.

“An attack on US soil is definitely a possibility,” the official stated. “It would certainly send a message.”

McKenzie’s feedback on Sunday additionally come after European leaders warned concerning the prospect of struggle.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk referred to as on European nations to step up funding of their protection, arguing that the continent isn’t prepared for the present “prewar era.”

Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie warned of the Islamic State terror group’s “inevitable” risk to the U.S. and different international powers after the lethal attack in Russia final month. (AP Photos/Lolita Baldor, File)

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“I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past,” he stated in a latest interview with European newspapers earlier than pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It’s real, and it started over two years ago.”

And in January, Swedish protection officers warned about potential struggle because the nation was shut to becoming a member of NATO, which has formally occurred.

“For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand,” Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin stated on the time at Folk och Försvars, or “Society and Defense,” annual nationwide convention in Sälen.

“But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,” he stated. “Many have said it before me, but let me do so in an official capacity, more plainly and with naked clarity: There could be war in Sweden.”