Abandoned Afghan Commandos may turn to terror outfits if not evacuated: Ex-US official

Former US Navy Special Warfare Intelligence Chief Glenn Pangelinan has warned that if Washington does not evacuate thousands of Afghan commandos from Afghanistan, y will turn to ISIS-K. During Fox News interview, former Navy intelligence chief stated unequivocally that if Afghan commandos realise y will not be evacuated, y may sell ir skills to Daesh or Taliban. Pango, a Guam native, recently returned from an island fact-finding mission to learn how US territory could become a safe haven for thousands of Afghan allies and ir families who have yet to be evacuated from country.

While many senior Afghan military officers were able to flee Kabul, less senior non-commissioned officers were left behind. Taliban's hunter squs are on lookout for commandos and torturing those y find. Because commandos were under Afghan command, y were forced to rely on humanitarian parole applications to be evacuated. According to media reports, some commandos may be coerced into joining Taliban's ranks in future. Perhaps that is ir only option for saving ir families. If this occurs, a terrorist organisation will have access to highly trained special operations forces. Forces that understand how US military operates.

Pangelinan spoke after Republican Mike Waltz urged Congress to pass legislation that would make it easier for Biden ministration to evacuate vetted allies. Waltz stated that se commandos have received extensive training in signal intelligence, human intelligence, and operations. We're well aware that Taliban are on lookout for m. y're attempting to coerce m into handing over that information so that y can use it and gain a better understanding of how we work, according to Fox News.

US evacuated 1,000 Afghan commandos in August

This was preceded by a New York Times investigation, which revealed that in August, US staged a covert operation in Afghanistan to evacuate hundreds of American nationals and at least 1,000 allied Afghan commandos from country via a secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) compound outside Kabul. inquiry claimed that Eagle Base, which housed Salt Pit prison until 2004, was used between August 15 and 27 to assist with evacuation efforts following Taliban's takeover of power in Afghanistan on August 15. Pentagon confirmed on August 30 that America's nearly two-dece presence in Afghanistan came to an end when final Boeing C-17 aircraft took off from Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport.  US troop withdrawal occurred in midst of Taliban's rapid offensive in Afghanistan, which resulted in militant group seizing power in country on August 15 after taking over capital Kabul without a fight.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Image: AP