‘War with the US not over’, says al Qaeda as US pulls out of Afghanistan

US President Joe Biden had earlier this month, announced that the United States will pull out its troops completely out of war-torn Afghanistan after about two decades, by the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks. But for al Qaeda, the terror group once led by a wealthy terrorist Osama Bin Laden who masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, the war with America is not over, a TV report said, quoting al Qaeda operatives. 

Also read: US President Joe Biden restricts travel from India to US due to the COVID-19 outbreak

“War against the US will be continuing on all other fronts unless they are expelled from the rest of the Islamic world,” said the two terror operatives in an exclusive interview with CNN conducted through intermediaries.

Twenty year ago, on the fateful morning of September 11, 19 terrorists linked with the al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the US. 

Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed during the attack, which led to the US raiding the Afghan soil later that year and since then America’s “war on terror” is on, even after the mastermind of the attack, Bin Laden was killed by a team of US Navy Seals, inside the absconding terrorist’s high-walled compound in Pakistan’s Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.

Also Read: United States VP Kamala Harris calls Indian COVID situation “tragic”

Ten years later, the terror group that largely stayed out of focus after the initial few years under Osama Bin Laden’s No.2 Al Zawahiri, has popped up with a timely statement. Just when the US is planning a ‘big’ pull out of troops from Afghanistan.  

Is al Qaeda planning a comeback?

If experts are to be believed, the terror group is possibly planning a comeback after the US leaves Afghanistan, by joining hands with Taliban, once again. Notably, Taliban couldn’t cut a peace deal with the existing Afghanistan government and the US.

The operatives, according to the CNN report, said: “Thanks to Afghans for the protection of comrades-in-arms, many such jihadi fronts have been successfully operating in different parts of the Islamic world for a long time.” 

Also Read: IP protection: United States puts India on Priority Watch List

President Biden on April 15 announced that the US will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan before September 11. When Biden took office in January, about 2,500 troops were stationed in Afghanistan, the lowest level since the beginning of the war nearly 20 years ago in 2001.