US President Joe Biden said on Friday that the greatest threat and likelihood of attack from al Qaeda or ISIS was not going to be from Afghanistan, but other regions.
“The greatest threat and likelihood of attack from al Qaeda or ISIS is not going to be from Afghanistan; it’s going to be from five other regions of the world that have significantly more presence of both al Qaeda and organizational structures, including ISIS,” Biden said addressing US service members and their families in Virginia.
Biden said that US went to Afghanistan with a clear purpose: to get the people who attacked us on 9/11 and to prevent al Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base from which to attack America in the future. He said that US forces achieved that purpose.
“Now, as we draw down, we’re also going to focus on the urgent work of rebuilding over-the-horizon capabilities that’ll allow us to take out al Qaeda if they return to Afghanistan — but to focus on the threat that has metastasized,” Biden said.
Last month, Biden announced decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11.
