Al Qaeda plotting new attacks against the West from its base in Afghanistan

Telegraph:

Al-Qaeda has re-established its terrorist headquarters in southern Afghanistan and is using it as a base to plan major attacks against the West, the Daily Telegraph can reveal.

After more than a decade of hiding across the border in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt, al-Qaeda terrorist cells have moved back into southern Afghanistan following the withdrawal of British and American forces at the end of 2014.

Now Afghan security officials are warning that al-Qaeda chiefs are hoping to use their new Afghan base to plot a fresh wave of terror attacks against the West and its allies.

“Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the withdrawal of Western troops to re-establish its headquarters in southern Afghanistan,” said a senior Afghan defence official. “Now they are back they will be determined to use Afghanistan as a base to prepare new attacks against Western targets.”

Afghanistan on Sunday said a US drone had killed the Taliban's leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, with a missile strike in south west Pakistan. The strike was denounced by Pakistan as a violation of its sovereignty and is set to trigger a power struggle for control of the insurgent movement.

Afghan security officials say al-Qaeda terror cells are operating in an around the southern city of Kandahar, which is regarded as the spiritual home of the Taliban, al-Qaeda’s closest ally and supporter in the region.
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Obama was under the mistaken impression that he could end a war by retreating from the battle space, but in al Qaeda he is up against an enemy that will attack anywhere in the world.