Friday marked the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending America's first operation in the so-called “Global War on Terrorism.”
But the end of two decades of war, with the deaths of more than 6,200 U.S. soldiers and contractors, more than 1,100 allied forces, 70,000 Afghan troops and police, and more than 46,300 Afghan civilians, ultimately saw Afghanistan fall to the Taliban, become a safe haven for al-Qaida, and once again become a “melting pot of terrorism,” according to former Afghan Army Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat.
Despite more than $2.3 trillion spent on the Afghanistan war and President Biden declaring al-Qaeda “defeated,” the terrorist group is stronger than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to authorThe Last Commander: “Past and Future Fighting in Afghanistan”
Former Afghan Army Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat exits a helicopter during the US war on terror. (Afghan Army Lieutenant General Sami Sadat)
“There are 50,000 al-Qaida members and associates in Afghanistan, most of whom have undergone operational training overseas in the past three years,” Sadat, who served in Afghanistan's military and security services for nearly two decades, said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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Fox News Digital could not independently verify the exact number of al-Qaeda fighters in and outside Afghanistan, but Sadat's figure represents only half of the al-Qaeda fighters he believes are scattered across the Arab world and a shockingly small fraction of the 4,000 al-Qaeda members who were on the run before the 9/11 attacks.
The terrorist group is said to have around 60 bases in 19 countries, including at least 12 training camps set up in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.
“Allowing the recapture of Afghanistan with the Taliban in 2021 has given al-Qaeda a new rallying call: it is now their most important stronghold,” Sadat wrote in his book, published earlier this month. “Al-Qaeda has not only survived, but adapted to the changing policies of the U.S. administration, waiting out the Western withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and watching the U.S. attack Islamic State's rivals in the Middle East.”
Taliban fighters lined up in a display of weapons and strength to control access to the Abiy Gate, gathering Afghans with travel documents in the sun before proceeding, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)
U.S. intelligence has assessed that al-Qaeda does not currently have the capacity to carry out long-range attacks, despite its considerable size. However, security experts surveyed by Fox News Digital disputed this assessment and questioned whether the intelligence agencies distinguish between capability and intent. Meanwhile, President Sadat has maintained that al-Qaeda is capable of carrying out “large-scale attacks.”
Al Qaeda, like many other terrorist organizations, has long relied on fairly simple attack methods to inflict widespread harm on civilians.
But there is one big difference between today's resurfaced al-Qaida group and the terrorist organization that carried out the 9/11 attacks: state sponsorship.
In the late 1990s, al-Qaida was primarily funded by private financial intermediaries across the Gulf region, who funneled money to the group. According to the 9/11 Commission report: It was established in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to investigate all aspects of terrorist attacks.
Former Afghan Army Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat sits with Afghan soldiers during the U.S. war in Afghanistan. (Afghan Army Lieutenant General Sami Sadat)
The committee also said it “found no compelling evidence” that the terrorist group received funding from a foreign government before the attacks, a finding that contrasts sharply with government descriptions of al-Qaida in past years.
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“Al Qaeda has a new home: the Islamic Republic of Iran,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a January 12, 2021 speech just days before the Trump administration left the White House.
Pompeo suggested the information had been known for at least a year since the death in Tehran of Abu Muhammad al-Masri, an al-Qaida member who attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The discovery initially surprised security officials, given long-standing disagreements between Sunni terrorist organizations and Shiite states.
But Iran's harboring of al-Qaeda terrorists marks a new era in the fight against Islamic extremism and indicates that Tehran has become deeply involved in protecting and arming al-Qaeda and the Taliban, as well as other Shiite terrorist groups.
After the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, reports emerged that Iran had not only strengthened ties with the group to counter the US and its Western allies, but was also supplying it with weapons. The Taliban have been in power since 2009.
Taliban-appointed Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (center) inspects a guard of honor during a military parade marking the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, at Bagram Air Base in Parwan province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Sidiqullah Alizai)
Iran, one of the first countries to normalize diplomatic ties with the Taliban, regularly expels Afghans who supported the United States and fled the country after the Taliban took power, often leading to arrests and executions, Sadat said.
“In October 2021, shortly after the fall of Afghanistan, a meeting took place in Tehran between Esmail Qani, leader of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force, Saif al-Adel, then head of al-Qaida's international operations and now leader of al-Qaida, and Mullah Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a Taliban representative,” Sadat told Fox News Digital.
The lieutenant general said that during the meeting, Tehran offered to help fund al-Qaida's “regrouping and recruitment” and urged the Taliban to give it space to train and build up its army.
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“They brokered a peace process between these groups across the Middle East,” Sadat said, pointing to one of the first ceasefire agreements between Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen and Sunni al-Qaida militants across the Arabian Peninsula. “They said they could use each other's fighters, intelligence and facilities to carry out attacks against the United States.”
“That has dramatically shaped the Middle East,” he warned.
Sadat, said to be the last Afghan military commander remaining in the fight against the Taliban after former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul on August 15, 2021, explained that a series of wrong strategic and operational decisions taken in Afghanistan due to US political turmoil had led to devastating consequences not only for Afghanistan but also for global security.
Former Afghan Army Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat addressed Afghan troops as efforts to counter the Taliban work with U.S. forces. (Afghan Army Lieutenant General Sami Sadat)
The United States launched attacks on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in October 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But after seven years of war — just a third of the time the U.S. spent in Afghanistan — Americans were war-weary.
Further cemented by moves to limit combat activity under the Obama administration, the subsequent failure of the Trump administration to reach an agreement with the Taliban (which blindsided the Afghan government and empowered the extremist group), and President Biden's refusal to reassess the US's long-term strategy in Afghanistan, Afghan forces have been left without sufficient ammunition as well as US air support, and morale has been further eroded as Taliban forces continue their “wave attacks.”
“The war was lost not because the Taliban were strong, but because for 20 years it was treated not as a war but as a short-term intervention,” Sadat wrote. “America's competent officials understood the problems.
“They were like, 'It's not our 20th year. It's our 20th year and our first year,'” he added.
The overall sentiment in the United States across multiple administrations has been a desire to end the “endless” war against Islamic extremism.
British troops are working with US troops to evacuate eligible civilians and their families from the country in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 21, 2021. (Ministry of Defence Crown Copyright via Getty Images)
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But Sadat argued that Washington's failure to oust the Taliban, to stand up to a state power like Iran, and to consistently support Afghan forces defending the newly established democratic government have motivated today's terrorist groups to seek closer ties with Western powers like Iran, North Korea, Russia and China.
“Under the protection of the Taliban, Afghanistan has once again become a breeding ground for international terrorism,” Sadat wrote. “Those of us who left have inherited our education and a strong desire to return. A new generation, my generation, has the drive to reclaim Afghanistan and transform it once and for all into the direction of peace and prosperity.”
“Right now, I'm a general without an army,” he said.
President Sadat has said he intends to return to Afghanistan one day.
