WASHINGTON — As troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan, experts fear that al-Qaida is gaining ground.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the House terrorism subcommittee debated the correct response to the continuing threat, many agreeing that military action will be key.
“We need to call this like it is—al-Qaida is a robust global organization. It’s not on the path defeat,” said Rep. Ted Poe, R-TX, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
“We can’t ignore the obvious—that they are the enemy and it’s always our military that goes after them,” Poe said.
Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman agreed, saying that while the United States has made progress against al-Qaida, that progress is both fragile and reversible.
“If the United States withdraws all of our military forces from Afghanistan at the end of the year, the so-called ‘zero option’ as some now advocate, you can be assured that al-Qaida will regenerate, eventually on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border,” said Lieberman.
Outside of Afghanistan, the terrorist network continues to grow and pose another set of challenges.
In places like Syria, Somalia, Yemen and North Africa, where al-Qaida affiliated groups have used political instability to recruit, large-scale military involvement is not the right choice according to Seth Jones, associate director of RAND Corp.
Jones said, “the large U.S. presence contributed to radicalization” in Iraq and suggests deploying special operation forces like those used in Pakistan against Osama bin Laden in 2011 and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in 2003.
According to State Department testimony, an al-Qaida affiliated group has approximately 2000 fighters in Iraq, and was able to take control of parts of the country earlier this year.
“Based on current trends, the United States will likely face a persistent threat from terrorist groups operating in such regions as North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia,” Jones said. “A U.S. failure to directly engage special operations forces or intelligence units could severely jeopardize U.S. national security.”