Sweet Home Afghanistan: Al Qaeda Returning to Afghanistan for New Attacks

Reason? One word: Drones

 

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Al-Qaida militants are moving back into Afghanistan to plot new attacks here, highlighting the terror group's resilience despite nearly a decade of U.S.-led efforts to prevent its return to the country.

Several dozen al-Qaida operatives have left their bases in Pakistan and taken up new positions in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar and Nuristan provinces, remote regions which lie along the porous border between the two countries, according to senior officials with the International Security Assistance Force here.

The influx of al-Qaida fighters into Afghanistan, which hasn't previously been reported, could trigger fresh attacks on coalition and Afghan targets and hamper the intensifying push to strike peace deals with moderate elements of the Taliban.

ISAF officials said that al-Qaida operatives were returning to Afghanistan because they no longer felt as secure inside Pakistan as they once did. Central Intelligence Agency drones have carried out an escalating wave of strikes on militant targets inside Pakistan, including a record 21 such attacks last month alone. The Pakistani military, meanwhile, has been conducting ongoing offensives inside several longtime insurgent strongholds.[Emphasis mine..ed]

Thanks to the Bartender

Cross posted at the Jawa Report