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History tends to repeat itself, especially when it pertains to President Joe Biden. His ideologically strict open borders policy exposed us to a growing threat of terrorism abroad.
Even though Mr. Biden called the disastrous and shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 an “extraordinary success,” radical Islamic terrorists somehow failed to get the message.
Nearly three years have passed since Mr. Biden announced his plan to withdraw U.S. troops unconditionally from Afghanistan. In 2011, then-President Barack Obama similarly announced an end to the war effort in Iraq and withdrew U.S. troops.
ISIS-K attack in Moscow highlights growing terrorist threat from Afghanistan
But radical jihadists love a power vacuum, and what happened next is the same pattern we are seeing unfolding in Afghanistan. Our country is under much the same threat that he faced from ISIS in 2014.
A masked Islamic State soldier poses with an ISIS flag in 2015. A New York City man and his wife have pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, the Justice Department announced. (Photo by Getty Images from History/Universal Images Group)
Within three years, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) filled the power vacuum left by the United States, establishing a caliphate the size of Indiana that terrorized the region and inspired attacks across Europe and the United States. .
In 2015, two Islamic extremists killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, an attack blamed on ISIS. Six months later, terrorists pledging allegiance to ISIS killed 49 people in the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando. We have witnessed a wave of Islamic terrorist attacks across Europe.
Similar terrorist attacks and plots are currently being exported from ISIS-K in Afghanistan to carry out against Western countries.
In March, German authorities arrested two Afghans linked to ISIS-K for planning an attack on the Swedish parliament. In December, Austrian authorities arrested three terrorists linked to ISIS-K for planning an attack on Christian strongholds on Christmas Eve.
What happened in Afghanistan is not limited to Afghanistan. This is a lesson that should have stayed with us after the September 11 attacks. And Biden should have learned this from his former boss’s lack of counterterrorism planning after the Iraq withdrawal.
The Taliban cannot be trusted to keep a lid on the rise of ISIS-K in Afghanistan. Just last year, terrorists claimed more than 1,500 lives in neighboring Pakistan through various attacks, and the region continues to become more unstable.
CENTCOM Commander Michael Kurilla recently warned lawmakers that ISIS could carry out attacks on the United States or Europe within six months with “little or no warning.”
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Since Biden took office, more than 300 illegal immigrants on the FBI’s terror watch list have been arrested trying to cross the southern border. Fewer than 20 were discovered during Donald Trump’s presidency. That’s an amazing difference.
On May 30, 2023, Italian authorities released an image showing the self-portrait of a minor arrested in northern Italy on suspicion of involvement with the terrorist organization ISIS. The person in question is believed to have been planning a devastating attack near his hometown. (via Italian Police, Associated Press, HO)
The Biden administration’s refusal to take border security seriously makes our nation increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks, and there is little we can do to stop the export of terrorism from Afghanistan.
Unlike Iraq, where we can deploy assets from nearby bases in the Middle East to fight ISIS, there is little we can do to address the growing threat in Afghanistan. There are limits to what we can do with capabilities beyond our horizon, such as using drones to eliminate terrorist leaders.
Afghanistan’s freedom fighters are trusted allies during our counterinsurgency efforts and are not friends of ISIS or the Taliban. Perhaps it could be sourced through sophisticated channels. Having more assets in Asia rather than Europe would definitely help. Israel’s war against Hamas is proof enough that radical jihadist movements continue to pose a threat.
In 2015, two Islamic extremists killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, an attack blamed on ISIS. Six months later, terrorists pledging allegiance to ISIS killed 49 people in an attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. We have witnessed a wave of Islamic terrorist attacks across Europe.
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But Biden is leaving us with little choice and leaving America on the defensive. Above all, in the short term, we must secure our borders by reinstating Trump-era policies like Title 42.
When Donald Trump became president, he immediately addressed the threat of ISIS and the caliphate was destroyed under his leadership. Solving this problem will require his clear-headed approach to Islamic extremism and serious efforts to secure our borders. Biden’s unwillingness to admit his mistakes only fuels global terrorism, and his open borders ideology makes us even less secure at home.
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