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Former Afghan Intelligence Chief Sees “Jihadist Utopia” Since U.S. Withdrawal

HERAT, AFGHANISTAN – AUGUST 31: Taliban members gather and make speeches in front of Herat governorate after the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in Herat, Afghanistan on August 31, 2021. (Photo by Mir Ahmad Firooz Mashoof/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Posted: May 2nd, 2024

By Tom Nagorski

Tom Nagorski is the Managing Editor for The Cipher Brief.  He previously served as Global Editor for Grid and served as ABC News Managing Editor for International Coverage as well as Senior Broadcast Producer for World News Tonight.

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — The last Afghan head of intelligence before the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan believes terrorist groups have regained a foothold in the country, and that conditions there are ripe for what he called a jihadist “utopia.”

In an interview with The Cipher Brief, Ahmad Zia Saraj said the world needed “a wakeup call,” given that more than a dozen regional Islamist terrorist groups have reconstituted operations in Afghanistan since the 2021 U.S. withdrawal and return of Taliban rule. Saraj said the groups had taken advantage of implicit support from the Taliban, the freeing of thousands of prisoners, and a rise in the influence of Islamic seminaries, or madrassahs. 

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