The UK’s intelligence agency, MI5, has warned that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan may have “emboldened” terrorists to carry out future 9/11-type attacks.
Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, told the BBC on Friday that “we need to be vigilant” because the terrorism threat is “a real and enduring thing.”
“Overnight you can have a psychological boost or morale boost to extremists already here, or in other countries,” McCallum said of the Taliban resurgence last month.
“There is no doubt that recent events in Afghanistan will have heartened and emboldened some of those extremists.
“So being vigilant to precisely those kinds of risks is what my organization is focused on, along with, along with a range of other threats.”
Despite the Taliban claiming they won’t let Afghanistan become a haven for terrorists plotting against the West, McCallum warned that the withdrawal of troops could give extremists a base to operate from as they did in the leadup to 9/11.
“The big concern flowing from Afghanistan, alongside the immediate inspirational effect, is the risk that terrorists reconstitute and once again pose us more in the way of well-developed, sophisticated plots of the sort that we faced in 9/11 and the years thereafter,” he said.
McCallum said British intelligence had disrupted 31 late-stage plots against the country in the last four years.
The last major terror attack in the UK was in 2017, when a bomber targeted the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester and knife-wielding men attacked two bridges in London.
“We do face a consistent global struggle to defeat extremism and to guard against terrorism,” he said.
"type" - Google News
September 10, 2021 at 07:53PM
https://ift.tt/3A2rtHh
MI5 warns Taliban have 'emboldened' terrorists for 9/11-type attacks - New York Post
"type" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2WhN8Zg
https://ift.tt/2YrjQdq
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "MI5 warns Taliban have 'emboldened' terrorists for 9/11-type attacks - New York Post"
Post a Comment