President Barack Obama essentially declared the war in Afghanistan to be over in December 2014, calling an end to all U.S. and NATO combat operations.
He also declared the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria to be “contained” just a little more than a month ago.
Both of those assertions are now provably false, based upon a warning issued by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, according to Breitbart.
Gen. John Campbell, commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that the Islamic State group affiliate in the country has been growing rapidly and has expressed a desire to strike against U.S. interests in the near future.
“They don’t have the capability right now to attack Europe, or attack the homeland, the United States, but that’s what they want to do, they’ve said that’s what they want to do,” Campbell said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The Islamic State group affiliate, which has been active in Afghanistan for more than a year, goes by the name Islamic State-Khorasan Province, with Khorasan referring to the historic name for the region that encompasses Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India and other neighboring countries.
A new report out of the Pentagon said that IS-KP “has progressed from its initial exploratory phase to a point where they are openly fighting the Taliban for the establishment of a safe haven, and are becoming more operationally active.”
The warning was echoed by North Carolina Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger, chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, who just returned from a trip to the embattled region.
“It’s definitely growing,” Pittenger said, referring to IS-KP. “It started out as a small colony, down in the southeastern border (with Pakistan), but they’re definitely growing in the region.”
“Their presence poses a threat to the United States,” he added. “They’re clearly focused on attacking U.S. interests. It’s a very conflicted and very challenging situation.”
Campbell told the AP that the Islamic State group hopes to assimilate the Khorasan Province into the broader caliphate and intends to set up a regional base in the important city of Jalabad in eastern Afghanistan.
He also revealed that an unknown number of foreign fighters, mostly from Iraq and Syria, have come to Afghanistan and linked up with like-minded jihadists and disaffected members of the Taliban, likely in an effort to recruit more fighters and consolidate ties with Islamic State group leadership back in Syria.
All of this comes as violence has increased recently in the war-torn country, with the resurgent Taliban and other groups feeling emboldened after Obama withdrew most U.S. forces and transitioned those remaining from engaging in combat to merely providing training and assistance to Afghan national forces
However, despite the many years of training and untold millions that have been spent to raise an Afghan army and police force, they nevertheless lack the capabilities to effectively fight and defend their own country.
“I think if we left, it would all collapse — No different than what happened in Iraq,” Pittenger ominously proclaimed.
Obama told us that the war in Afghanistan was over and the Islamic State group was contained within Iraq and Syria. Both of those assertions have been proven false, and the growth of a new radical jihadist threat in the region is just further evidence of the utter failure of Obama’s foreign policy.
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