US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians, some with ties to the Islamic State group, to countries including Turkey, Syria, Iraq and even the U.S. Around the world, officials are monitoring tensions in Africa, which Holmgren called potentially the greatest long-term threat to U.S. security given that the Islamic State group has a large footprint on the continent and is investing resources there. He says the “most potent overseas threat facing the United States” right now is the group's Afghanistan-based affiliate, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, whose attacks include a March 2024 massacre at a Moscow theater and the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 170 Afghans in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The group has not plotted against U.S. interests in recent years and has been “the most effective counterterrorism partner on the ground,” Holmgren said. But we will continue to evaluate not just their words but also the actions that they’re undertaking.” In an indication of Syria's continued instability, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press last week that the U.S. needs to keep troops there to prevent the Islamic State group from reconstituting, and intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government already have thwarted a plan by IS to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb.