Top Pentagon Official Warns: ISIS-K Could Be Ready To Attack West In 6 Months

Terrorist groups in Afghanistan could have the capability to attack Western countries and their allies in as little as six months, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told the committee that the U.S. intelligence community determined ISIS-K could be ready to attack the West in 6 months to a year, and that al-Qaeda could be ready for such an attack in one to two years. ISIS-K is an acronym for the Islamic State’s Afghanistan branch.

“We could see ISIS-K generate that capability in somewhere between six or 12 months, according to current assessments [from the intelligence community],” Kahl said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “And for al Qaeda, it would take a year or two to reconstitute that capability. We have to remain vigilant against that possibility.”

Kahl also told lawmakers on Tuesday that the U.S. could not determine whether the Taliban would be able to counter a threat from ISIS-K.