The former head of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, Alex Yanger, believes that the withdrawal of the US and allied forces might give rise to the resurgence of terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, Sky News reports
Yanger blasted former US president Donald Trump for setting a May withdrawal deadline and claims that the US pullout should have been conditional on the Taliban actively taking part in the political process.
Although he believes a civil war remains the most likely scenario in Afghanistan, Yanger points that he is still proud of US-led intervention achievements there regardless of the power vacuum they’re leaving behind now.
Yanger insists, comparing the current Afghan situation with that which followed the Soviet troop withdrawal in 1989, that the West should stay active in Afghanistan instead of making a huge mistake by leaving it by itself.
Just as a reminder, Afghan Mujahideen guerrilla militants who were fighting the Soviet forces in the early 1980s and who later became part of the Taliban, were armed and financed by the US. The CIA even bragged in April about arming the militants who fought the Soviet army with shoulder-fired missiles.
In that regard, the Afghan president’s national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, said that United States has already handed over to the Afghans most of the weapons it was planning to give, and they are using them to defend the people and territorial integrity of the country.
The top US military official overseeing the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, also raised concerns about the Taliban advances on the ground there. Army Gen. Scott Miller echoed Yanger’s concerns about the security situation in Afghanistan and also raised the potential of civil war once the US troops are gone.
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