The former chief of U.S. Central Command warned on Sunday that the Islamic State terror group is a menace that is only getting worse and that it has a “strong desire” to attack the United States and other foreign countries.
“We should believe them when they say that. They’re going to try to do it,” retired Gen. Frank McKenzie stated. “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
McKenzie went on, “I think the threat is growing,” citing the risks posed by affiliates such as ISIS-K in the wake of the larger group’s admission of guilt over a deadly attack in Moscow earlier this month.
Additionally, the organization claimed responsibility for a January major bombing in Iran.
“It begun to grow as soon as we left Afghanistan, it took pressure off ISIS-K. So I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners and other nations abroad,” McKenzie stated. “I think this is inevitable.”
In addition to writing the upcoming book “The Melting Point,” McKenzie also commands U.S. forces in the Middle East, including the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He stated that the U.S. keeps a sizable military presence in Iraq and Syria to confront radicals.
However, he continues to hold the opinion that the United States ought to have maintained a limited military presence in Afghanistan instead of ending America’s longest war by withdrawing all of its forces in August 2021.
McKenzie challenged the assertion made by President Joe Biden earlier that there would be a “over-the-horizon capability” to “act quickly and decisively” in Afghanistan, even from a distance.
Regarding the current situation, he remarked, “In Afghanistan, we have almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country.”
According to him, that is advantageous for extremists like the Islamic State.
“If you can keep pressure on them … in their homeland and their base, it makes it hard for them to conduct these types of attacks,” he stated. “Unfortunately, we no longer place that pressure on them, so they’re free to gain strength, they’re free to plan, they’re free to coordinate.”
One of the risks of radicals being able to gather enough support to organize large-scale attacks is highlighted by the strike that occurred in Russia on March 22, according to McKenzie. However, he added, these kinds of initiatives are easier to spot.
According to the “duty to warn” principle, the United States has stated that it informed the Kremlin about a potential terror strike weeks in advance.
“I think there was probably good opportunity for the Russians to have averted this attack had they actually listened to the material that was presented to ’em,” McKenzie stated on Sunday.
The Russian Foreign Security Service said that after the suspects in the Moscow attack, who have been identified as Tajikistani citizens, opened fire in one of the country’s biggest retail and entertainment complexes, the facility was completely destroyed by fire.
While influence campaigns, internet tactics, in-person recruitment, and training are all potential ways for militants to become radicalized to fight for groups like ISIS-K, McKenzie told Raddatz on “This Week” that self-radicalization “may be one of the most dangerous methods that ISIS can use to generate attacks.”
In a separate statement, McKenzie also briefly discussed the difficulties the Israeli military is seeing as it targets Hamas fighters in Gaza following the terror incident carried out by Hamas on October 7.
More than 32,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as a result of the war, sparking growing worldwide outrage.
“I think the Israelis are in genuine horns of a dilemma as they try to finish the ground campaign in Gaza,” McKenzie stated, “and it’s going to be a very difficult stretch for them.”
