The militants of the Al-Qaeda and IS terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation (both are banned in the Russian Federation) maintain their presence in Afghanistan, but their exact number is unknown. This was stated on Friday, August 20, by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
"We know that Al-Qaeda is present in Afghanistan, as is the Islamic State. <...> We do not believe that [the number of their fighters there] is prohibitively high, but we do not have an exact figure for you, " Kirby said at a regular briefing at the Ministry of Defense.
He added that the militants of these two organizations located in Afghanistan do not pose a threat to the territory of the United States, which was as of September 11 20 years ago.
On August 15, representatives of the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation) entered Kabul, then announced the "end of the war" in Afghanistan, calling it the "liberation" of the country. The militants said they would soon announce the creation of an Islamic emirate of Afghanistan, and also demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. The President of Afghanistan resigned on the same day and left the country.
The situation in Afghanistan has worsened against the background of the US withdrawal of its military, who have been in the country for 20 years. During this time, it has not been possible to achieve a stable peace in the region and to establish the political situation in the country. The withdrawal of troops began in early May, it is planned to complete it by the end of August.
On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists took four passenger planes hostage. The militants sent two of them to the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the third to the Pentagon building in Washington. The fourth plane was also flying towards the American capital, but crashed in Pennsylvania. As a result of the terrorist attacks, in addition to members of the terrorist group, almost 3 thousand people were killed.
