Taliban takeover won’t increase terror threat to Belgium, expert says
The defence, foreign policy and security expert Professor Dr Sven Biscop (photo above) of the Egmont Institute has said that he doesn’t believe that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan will mean that there will be an increased risk to Belgium from terrorist acts in the short term. Speaking in an interview with the press agency Belga Professor Dr Biscop went on to say that the risk in the longer term will also remain limited.
Professor Dr Biscop works for the Egmont Institute, a Brussels-based independent non-profit think-tank dedicate to interdisciplinary research on international relations.
Speaking on Monday, Professor Dr Biscop told Belga that “I do not think there is an increased risk, even in the long term. We have been in Afghanistan for 20 years and during that time there have been major attacks here, including in Brussels. So, terrorists do not need Afghanistan as a base for operations.”
“Engaging in international terrorism was also the biggest mistake of the Taliban. If they had not supported al-Qaeda, there might never have been a foreign intervention in Afghanistan”, he added
“It is likely that the Taliban have learned from their mistakes and will therefore now be mainly focused on consolidating their power in Afghanistan,” Professor Dr Biscop concluded.