ISIS is increasingly unopposed following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the collapse of Syria

The threat posed by the Islamic State is back in the headlines following a New Year’s Day attack on a busy New Orleans street on Wednesday by a man who may have links to a terrorist network.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US-born citizen living in Texas and an Army Veteran, drove a truck with an ISIS flag into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.

However, the FBI has not confirmed its “association” or direct “association” with the notorious terrorist network that has been expanding around the world in recent years, especially in regions such as the Sahel in Africa, despite the statement in 2019 that the terrorist network was “defeated.”

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“Claims of the defeat of the Islamic State, like the alleged defeat of al Qaeda, are premature,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital. “These groups may have problems, but they persist.

“The Islamic State poses a threat from Afghanistan. It has an important network in Africa, especially in the Sahel and East Africa, Somalia. And its network in Iraq and Syria continues,” he added.

While the FBI has not yet confirmed that the New Orleans attacker was directly involved with ISIS, reports suggested he sympathized with the terrorist network and “pledged allegiance to ISIS” in a series of videos posted on his Facebook page, according to The New. The York Times.

The FBI has not released the motive for the attack, and Roggio explained that this incident probably does not indicate that there is a “resurgence” of ISIS, although the security expert emphasized that increasingly the terrorist network finds itself against less opposition in places where it has been opposed.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria last month in an al Qaeda-created organization called Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham have left security gaps in the Middle East and South Asia – similar to what the rise of ISIS has caused US withdrawal from Iraq. Security experts have warned ISIS and other terrorist networks could exploit these power gaps.

People wave guns in the air as they gather to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime in Umayyad Square on Dec. 8. Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)

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ISIS-K – the regional organization of the terrorist group that originated in Iraq and Syria – gained international attention in August 2021 when it attacked Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover during the US withdrawal and used a suicide bomb to kill 13 American members and others 170 people. Afghan citizens.

The Taliban takeover raised concerns that Afghanistan would become a safe haven for insurgents such as Taliban allies al Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other jihadi groups, although there were concerns that the new ruling party in Afghanistan would not be able to stand up to ISIS. -K.

ISIS-K has not been able to thrive in Afghanistan following the fall of the democratic government and the withdrawal of US troops, but it is also not much contested.

“The Taliban and the Islamic State are enemies. The Taliban is going after the Islamic State even when we are not there – that does not make them partners in the fight against terrorism, but now they do not have a double threat against them – the US is looking at the Islamic State and the Taliban is targeting the Islamic State – they have a lot of freedom of movement,” said Roggio.

An Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighter holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014. (Photo by Reuters)

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The security expert said that when it comes to Afghanistan and the threats facing the US and its Western allies, the Taliban and al Qaeda remain a bigger threat than ISIS, although he stressed that ISIS increasingly has “more room to operate.”

“The Assad regime was the enemy of the Islamic State,” Roggio said. “One of the enemies of the Islamic State has been taken off the board, so it will give ISIS more room to re-energize in an area where it already has a significant presence.”

However, there is a third area where ISIS has strong roots and where it could see a resurgence if the US withdraws troops from the area.

The Biden administration in September announced that, in cooperation with the Iraqi government, the US will end its military operation in Iraq to fight the Islamic State by 2026. The move was met with immediate concern from security experts who argued that ISIS remained a top threat. in the US, and it could endanger the American forces still fighting the terrorist network in Syria.

The details of the troop drawdown remain unclear, with plans to negotiate a change in withdrawal plans following the fall of the Assad regime and the uncertain situation in Syria.

It is still possible that the incoming Trump administration will push to keep US troops in Iraq despite the threat from ISIS if the president-elect pushes to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan during his first term.

Service members who are part of Operation Inherent Resolve stand in formation and salute the United States flag during a Memorial Day ceremony at Union III in Baghdad on May 27, 2024. (US Army)

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“The United States must decide if it wants to stay in Iraq and Syria so it can fight the Islamic State and other targeted groups,” said Roggio. “And if it decides to stay, it needs to strengthen [its] being there to stop threats from militant groups attacking US troops.

“The US effort to contain the Islamic State is important. Without the presence of the US there, groups like the Islamic State, will succeed given the lack of law,” said a security expert. “As the Assad regime was bad, and it was a bad regime, it fought the Islamic State – so without their presence, you have another terrorist organization controlling large areas of Syria.

“As we learned in Afghanistan, you can’t trust terrorists to fight other terrorists,” Roggio added.

Fox News Digital could not reach Trump’s transition team for comment on his plans for US troops in the Middle East.