Afghanistan has become a terrorism staging ground again, leak reveals

© Zahir Khan Zahir/Getty Images Taliban security forces inspect the aftermath of a January operation targeting an Islamic State hideout in Kabul. Biden administration officials declined to verify the leaked documents’ authenticity, but defended their counterterrorism record since taking office. Since then, the organization has carried out hundreds of terrorist attacks in those countries, most of them small-scale and lacking in coordination. Separately, Iraq-based Islamic State operatives were observed vetting engineering students at a Damascus university to determine if their skills would be helpful. The Islamic State has explored the possibility of using chemical weapons and drones in terrorist attacks since at least 2015.