![]() Last year the State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the capture of ISIS-K leader, 28-year-old Sanaullah Ghafari and for help finding those behind the airport attack. ISIS-K is generally considered to be an international problem, having attacked foreign targets, in the bombing of Kabul airport as well as in separate attacks on Chinese citizens in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan ISIS-K it has emerged as the primary threat to the Taliban's efforts to instill peace in the country. Its stated aim is to impose an Islamic Caliphate in the region. It is unclear how much control ISIS exerts over ISIS-K, but the main group does claim attacks carried out in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The group previously fought the Western-backed government that fell in August 2021. 'We see concerning indications of ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan and its ambition that might go beyond that immediate territory,' she said. In January the National Counterterrorism Center Director, Christine Abizaid, described ISIS-K as the 'threat actor I am most concerned about'. 'It's a matter of time before they may have the ability and intent to attack the West,' the chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, said during a hearing last week. Similar assessments have been made by other US officials recently. ![]() The commander also confirmed to the committee that there was a need for munitions that can hit 'hard and deeply buried' ISIS-K targets in Afghanistan. When asked how many US citizens (including troops, tourists and people working abroad) are in regions vulnerable to attack he agreed there would be 'at least hundreds of thousands'. 'I think it is a higher probability overseas than it is in the homeland.' 'I think it's hard to put a timeline on that,' said Kurilla. 'If you asses six months against Europe or Asia what would you asses would be the timeline against the homeland?' senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas asked him. 'It would be harder for them to do that against the American homeland,' he said. He was then asked about the likelihood of an attack on US soil. 'ISIS-Khorasan grows emboldened, seeking to expand its ranks and inspire enable and direct attacks in the region and beyond - with the ultimate goal to strike on the American homeland,' he added. 'It is my commander's estimate that they can do an external operation against US or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning,' Kurilla said during the address this week.
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