American Intelligence: The greatest threat to the United States stems from countries in the Middle East, including Syria

The US National Intelligence Directorate, Avril Haynes, confirmed that the most dangerous threat to her country from global “terrorism” comes from countries such as Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Somalia, and not from Afghanistan, after the great international controversy after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s control of the country.

“Afghanistan is no longer a source of concern and threat to the United States of America,” Haynes said during a national security conference in the suburbs of Washington.

She added, “American intelligence officials are closely monitoring whether terrorist groups will re-emerge in Afghanistan,” noting that her country no longer considers Afghanistan a source of concern and threat represented by harboring “terrorist” groups and exploiting them to carry out attacks inside the United States.

She also considered that the greatest threat to American national security comes from countries in the Middle East, most notably Syria, saying: “Her country sees the biggest threats emanating from countries such as Iraq and Syria.”

She continued: “In spite of this, the American intelligence services are making a great effort to monitor the possibility of terrorist groups re-establishing themselves in Afghanistan.”

Joey Hood, the US acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said in a previous interview with Al-Hurra channel, that his country’s forces had completed a mission in Afghanistan completely, while the US army would maintain its presence in Syria and Iraq.

In response to a question about the possibility of repeating the Afghanistan scenario in Syria and Iraq, Hood said: “Afghanistan is different from the two mentioned countries. Iraq is a unique country, it is one of the most pluralistic countries in the Middle East and has interests that will continue with the United States.”

He considered that his country’s mission in Afghanistan has ended, and that its interests in Iraq continue, and this does not include only security, but also assistance to the Iraqi security forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces to defeat the “ISIS” organization once and for all, and this will take time.