Director of U.S. Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in an interview given to U.S. media yesterday that under Operation Allies Welcome, 18,000 Afghan nationals entered the United States, and that these individuals who arrived in the U.S. under the Joe Biden administration were not properly vetted. Now, under the same operation, every Afghan national who arrived is being closely reviewed. All institutions are active, and out of the 18,000, 2,000 individuals have direct or potential links with terrorist organizations.
She said that ISIS and other terrorist organizations are continuously engaged in planning attacks on the United States, and within the U.S. these organizations are looking for individuals who can carry out such acts, which is why they are quite serious regarding this threat.
And exactly what Intelligence Director Tulsi feared happened; just one day after this statement, ISIS opened fire at Brown University, killing two students and injuring nine, and then fled.
A few months earlier, a U.S. intelligence report had also stated that terrorist groups from Afghanistan have now become capable of operating in different parts of the world, which has begun to emerge as a reality.
In such changing circumstances, the near future is presenting a frightening picture, which can be regarded as a prelude to multi-dimensional action against Afghanistan, and in such a situation, as before, pressure from refugees on Pakistan and its effects and implications will be a natural occurrence.
Over the past few years, the number of people heading toward the United States illegally has also increased.
Earlier, according to a report that emerged at the beginning of December, another Afghan national in the United States was arrested on charges of providing material support to ISIS-Khorasan. His identity was disclosed as Jan Shah, who had been providing assistance to the terrorist organization.
According to a report, after an attack on two National Guard personnel in the United States by an Afghan-origin suspect, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested approximately 24 Afghan nationals. This wave of arrests was observed in areas of the U.S. state of California, where a large number of Afghan nationals are settled.
Last month, on 26 November, in a tragic incident, an Afghan national Rahmanullah attacked National Guards near the White House in Washington, in which one female National Guard member was killed while one male official was seriously injured. The accused in the National Guard attack, 29-year-old Rahmanullah, had been granted political asylum earlier this year. After the attack, the U.S. government temporarily suspended several immigration measures related to Afghan nationals, including visa processing, asylum applications, and cases of those Afghans who had provided services to U.S. forces.
Global media have reported that in response to terrorism in the United States, the counteractions initiated by the Trump administration, in which arrests are an important process, are resulting in severe fear and panic among Afghan-origin citizens, and many individuals are even avoiding leaving their homes to escape possible arrests. One such incident is worth mentioning here: when an Afghan man was being handcuffed, his wife burst into tears upon coming outside, while his young daughter was seen consoling her mother.
In fact, terrorism is not a problem of Afghanistan, Pakistan, or the United States, but of the entire human world. To eradicate it, the nations of the world will have to take united actions, and to uproot terrorism, they will also have to learn to sacrifice their interests, because it is in the name of interests that when a country or its individuals cannot themselves invade the land of another country, they place a gun on the shoulder of another country and fuel terrorism there, so that this monster of terrorism moves forward and engulfs all its enemies.
For example, this is the same Afghanistan where the United States fought a war for 20 years, the objective of which, after the airplane attacks on the World Trade Center, was to eliminate terrorism, and today those same Afghan terrorists are found going to U.S. soil and firing bullets at the protectors of the American public, the consequences of which are also borne by those citizens who have no connection whatsoever with suicide bombings or terrorism.
Ultimately, this reality will have to be accepted that terrorism is not the tragedy of a single region, a single state, or a single nation, but a declaration of war against human consciousness. It is a fire that is ignited by the fuel of interests, does not recognize the lines of borders, and ultimately burns those very people who think they will remain safe by turning this flame toward others. When states sow the seeds of violence for the sake of temporary benefit, strategic superiority, or silent bargaining, they forget that the crop of hatred does not remain confined to a single land. To defeat terrorism, more than weapons, the power of conscience is required—the courage of unity that rejects double standards, and the moral integrity that accepts that if oppression is silently tolerated today, tomorrow that same oppression will break down the door and enter. The only effective response to this crime against humanity is that the world stands not on the crutches of self-interest but on the foundation of shared human values—because terrorism can be used temporarily, but it can never be controlled. The very objectives for which it is nurtured are the first to fall into its grip. The fire that is ignited to burn the enemy ultimately turns one’s own homes into ashes. If humanity truly wants peace, it will have to completely dissociate itself from double standards, temporary interests, and proxy violence. The elimination of terrorism will only be possible on the day the world decides that for no purpose should the blood of humanity be allowed to flow, and remains firmly committed to that decision.
