Leaked Pentagon Docs: Afghanistan Terrorist 'Aspirations' Reconstituting

The Pentagon is warning about the reconstitution of terrorist aspirations in Afghanistan less than two years after President Joe Biden's unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan, a Discord leaked has revealed.

The Discord leaks have shared highly classified U.S. intelligence and defense information, and The Washington Post reported Saturday the latest one shared a classified Pentagon assessment that there is burgeoning "aspirational plotting" against the U.S.

The finding is not unexpected, as many have warned about a full, unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan would leave a vacuum terrorists would fill, but the details in this leak are specific.

Among the targets for terrorism plots are embassies, churches, business centers, and the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament that was held in Qatar last summer, according to the report.

The Pentagon raised the number of ISIS plots coordinated in Afghanistan from nine to 15.

"ISIS has been developing a cost-effective model for external operations that relies on resources from outside Afghanistan, operatives in target countries, and extensive facilitation networks," the top-secret Pentagon leak reveals. "The model will likely enable ISIS to overcome obstacles — such as competent security services — and reduce some plot timelines, minimizing disruption opportunities."

The documents are linked to the criminal case being brought by the Justice Department against Massachusetts Air Force National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21.

Also leaked is intelligence findings that ISIS is operating in other parts in the world with aspirations to obtain plans to create chemical weapons, operate drones, and kidnap Iraqi diplomats in Belgium or France to use them as leverage to release 4,000 imprisoned ISIS terrorists, according to the report.

The Biden administration declined to verify the authenticity of the leaked documents to the Post, but it did defends its counterterrorism record since Biden has take office.

The U.S. "maintains the ability to remove terrorists from the battlefield without permanent troop presence on the ground," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told the Post, adding the U.S. has over-the-horizon capability on counterterrorism "anywhere."

A senior U.S. defense official seemingly downplayed the significance of this latest leak revelation, saying the number of ISIS plots have ebbed and flowed but rarely been carried out.

The official also suggested the Taliban has been active in checking ISIS aggression there, known as Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K).

"I would never want to say that we had mortgaged our counterterrorism to a group like the Taliban, but it's a fact that, operationally, they put pressure on ISIS-K," the official told the Post. "In a strange world, we have mutually beneficial objectives there."

Also, the rise of ISIS-K is due to effective anti-terrorist efforts in other areas of the Middle East, because the U.S. has greater surveillance technology on the terror cells than ever before, according to the report.

"We see a lot of discussion and not a lot of action at this point," the senior official told the Post.

Nathan Sales, a former Trump administration State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, is calling for an urgent plan to attack ISIS leadership and infrastructure in Afghanistan — where Biden ensured no American troop presence remains.

"ISIS-K has enjoyed safe haven in Afghanistan since the administration withdrew 20 months ago," Sales told the Post, warning it "has the ambition to attack American interests in the region and, ultimately, the U.S. homeland itself."

Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla testified about ISIS's growing presence in Afghanistan before the House Armed Services Committee in March, seemingly based on assessment that has been leaked on Discord.

Kurilla said then, intelligence with the knowledge of "broad contours" of plans show ISIS could execute an attack outside of Afghanistan "with little to no warning."