CENTCOM commander says ISIS-K will be able to strike US interests in ‘under six months’

According to the top defense officer in the region, the Afghanistan branch of Islamic State Khorasan, ( ISIS-K), will be able launch attacks against United States interest outside of Afghanistan in six months.

General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, U.S. Central Command commander, said to lawmakers in the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that they believed ISIS-K would be capable of targeting U.S. interest, including the homeland, with little warning and in a matter a few months.

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“It is my commanders’ estimate that they can do an external operation against U.S. or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning,” He explained and later stated that it includes Europe as well as Asia. However, he waited to give more details until the classified briefing which will be held after the public hearing. “It is much harder for them to be able to do that against the homeland.”

Kurilla replied, “When pressed by lawmaker, Kurilla stated, “It’s hard to put a timeline on” How long would ISIS-K take to execute an attack? “but again, I assess that they could in as little as six months with little to no warning.”

Kurilla’s assessment came a week following the release of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s report on worldwide threats. This report noted that ISIS is-K “almost certainly retains the intent to conduct operations in the West and will continue efforts to attack outside of Afghanistan,” It will, however “maintain its campaign against the Taliban and religious minorities.”

ISIS-K had a lot of opportunities to grow since August 2021 when the U.S. military was forced out by the Taliban. ISIS-K and Taliban are at odds.

The Islamic State affiliate can be found “under attack from the Taliban,” Last week, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. General Scott Berrier spoke before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The U.S. has relied on its over the-horizon capabilities since its departure, which are its ability to launch strikes far away. However, it is difficult due to the requirement for accurate, real-time on-the ground intelligence.

“It is difficult right now, as I said in my confirmation hearing. It’s difficult but not impossible,” Kurilla added. “One of the things that we are trying to do is increase our intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance over that. We’re putting investment into long-duration high-altitude, alternative airborne ISR that can go up for days and weeks.”

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They are also “increasing our other intelligence efforts to get penetration into the networks that we want,” He noted.

The U.S. conducted one strike in the 18 months since they left. It was in July 2022. This strike targeted Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s successor in al-Qaeda leadership. Kurilla stated that two other non-kinetic counterterrorism events have been conducted but were not classified.