FBI chief warns terrorist groups 'to plan' large scale attacks after US's Afghan exit

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, on Tuesday, said that the terrorist groups in Afghanistan are searching for the United States' weaknesses in efforts to pull off a mass casualty attack on the country. Wray told Congress that the terror outfits are planning to remind the black day of September 11, 2001, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the militant Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda that killed nearly 3,000 people in the US. The FBI chief warned that the Islamic Emirate has become even more vulnerable after the exit of American soldiers from the war-ravaged country.

"We are certainly watching the evolving situation in Afghanistan. Now 9/11 was 20 years ago but for us at the FBI, as I know it does for my colleagues here with me, it represents a danger we focus on every day and make no mistake the danger is real," Wray said in testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee. During the testimony, the US domestic intelligence and security chief categorised several terror outfits including, al-Qaeda and al-Shabab-- terrorist groups banned in Russia-- in the vulnerable category for the Unites States. He said that the militant organisations have not stopped their large scale attacks against the United States.

'Withdrawal of US troops shortened timeline of probable attack by 1-2 years'

Further, he added that the vulnerable terror organisations could use Afghan soil to plot attacks on the United States sooner than expected. According to US intelligence agencies, the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan has shortened the timeline of probable attack by 1-2 years. It is worth mentioning that the extremist group had signed a deal with the US for not using its soil to prosper terror outfits that could launch an attack on the United States. However, US intelligence said that the agreement would not serve the requirement for the intelligence agencies to sit back silently.

CIA veteran warned Taliban

Earlier this month, Michael Morell, who served as acting Central Intelligence Agency director twice, during an online forum sponsored by the US Attorney's Office, speculated that the Taliban would invite al-Qaida to rebuild its base in Afghanistan. Morell, who briefed President George W Bush on September 11, believed that the Taliban will give a safe haven to al-Qaida in order to target the United States. According to the CIA veteran, who briefed President Barack Obama on the intelligence that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, counterterrorism efforts fall into a pattern in which their abilities could be easily degraded. However, he noted that al Qaida bounced back as soon as the focus shifted to other terror organisations. 

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: AP)