CIA veteran: Al-Qaida will rebuild within Afghanistan, seek to attack US again
Intelligence agent who worked with Bush and Obama says terror group will rearm with the help of Taliban
By Matthew Barakat
7 September 2021
FALLS CHURCH, Virginia (AP) — The CIA man who briefed former US president George W. Bush on Sept. 11, 2001, and later Barack Obama on the intelligence that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden said Tuesday that he’s convinced the Taliban will invite al-Qaida to rebuild in Afghanistan. “There is no doubt in my mind,” said Michael Morell, who twice served as acting CIA director. “I believe that the Taliban will give safe haven to al-Qaida, and I believe it will be al-Qaida’s intention to again build its capability so that they can attack us here at home.”
Morell spoke at an online forum sponsored by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is holding multiple panels this week to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Counterterrorism efforts fall into a pattern, Morell said, in which their capabilities can be easily degraded by a focused effort, but easily rebuilt when that focus fades. He pointed to the time in 2002 and 2003 when the US shifted its focus to Iraq, which he said led to a resurgent al-Qaida prompting attacks in Madrid in 2004, London in 2005 and elsewhere.
more........... https://www.timesofisrael.com/cia-v...d-within-afghanistan-seek-to-attack-us-again/
Intelligence agent who worked with Bush and Obama says terror group will rearm with the help of Taliban
By Matthew Barakat
7 September 2021
FALLS CHURCH, Virginia (AP) — The CIA man who briefed former US president George W. Bush on Sept. 11, 2001, and later Barack Obama on the intelligence that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden said Tuesday that he’s convinced the Taliban will invite al-Qaida to rebuild in Afghanistan. “There is no doubt in my mind,” said Michael Morell, who twice served as acting CIA director. “I believe that the Taliban will give safe haven to al-Qaida, and I believe it will be al-Qaida’s intention to again build its capability so that they can attack us here at home.”
Morell spoke at an online forum sponsored by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is holding multiple panels this week to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Counterterrorism efforts fall into a pattern, Morell said, in which their capabilities can be easily degraded by a focused effort, but easily rebuilt when that focus fades. He pointed to the time in 2002 and 2003 when the US shifted its focus to Iraq, which he said led to a resurgent al-Qaida prompting attacks in Madrid in 2004, London in 2005 and elsewhere.
more........... https://www.timesofisrael.com/cia-v...d-within-afghanistan-seek-to-attack-us-again/
