Washington – There is “a very good probability of a broader civil war” in Afghanistan, leading to the resurgence of Qaida or ISIS, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of United States Mark Milley on Saturday.
Gen. Milley said that his military estimate is that the conditions are likely to develop of a civil war, while emphasizing that he could not predict what would happen in Afghanistan, he however gave a bleak assessment.
“I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war and that will then in turn lead to conditions that could, in fact, lead to a reconstitution of al-Qaida or a growth of ISIS or other … terrorist groups”, Milley said.
With the withdrawal of the American forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban took over the entire Afghanistan within no time, except Panjshir who are fighting against this radical group.
He doubted whether the Taliban who haven’t declared the government yet, would be ever able to consolidate power and establish effective governance.
Milley noted that it would be a “very difficult policy choice” when media asked him if he could envision a situation in which American troops would have to return to Afghanistan.
“I wouldn’t say yes or no to anything actually. I think those are, it’s too early to say anything like that at this point”, Milley said, provided America has to continuously monitor the situation through intelligence services.
He noted, “You could see a resurgence of terrorism coming out of that general region within 12, 24, 36 months. And we’re going to monitor that.”
The United States invaded Afghanistan and removed the first Taliban regime in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaida, who were hosted by Taliban.
Political experts believe that Afghanistan could attract extremists and terrorists.
