Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) questioned Department of Defense Under Secretary for Policy Colin Kahl and Joint Chiefs of Staff Director for Operations Lieutenant General James Mingus on the miscalculations in ISIS and ISIS-K dominance in the Middle East area at a Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Several people have referenced the miscalculation of things,” said Senator Cramer. “It does seem like for the last twenty years or so we have been miscalculating on the wrong side of capabilities, whether it’s for Afghanistan and Iraq to reconstitute or ISIS or ISIS-K in Afghanistan.”
“It is true what you said at the outset, which is, as it relates to Afghanistan, there’s been serial miscalculations probably over two decades,” replied Undersecretary Kahl.
The senator then pivoted to asking what, after decades of inaccuracies, do military leaders know about the current state of ISIS-K and the affect ISIS has on inspiring further violence across the globe.
“I think for the moment ISIS-K is mostly focused on created havoc within Afghanistan, but they do have a cadre of a few thousand folks, some of which would love to conduct external attacks,” said Undersecretary Kahl.
“Do you worry about all of this ‘raising havoc’ as you just described it as inspiring to others?” asked Senator Cramer.
“I do think that is something we have to watch,” said Undersecretary Kahl.“[Events in Afghanistan] can have a galvanizing effect on the internet and elsewhere that inspires recruits and I know that the Department of Homeland Security and our intelligence community are pretty focused on that.”
“Our efforts in the months going ahead and as we continue to improve our over the horizon architecture is to ensure [ISIS-K’s] external capability never comes to fruition,” added Lieutenant General Mingus.
Following the hearing, Senator Cramer participated in a closed-door briefing on Afghanistan from military leaders.