Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice anticipated that President Joe Biden‘s withdrawal from Afghanistan would “increase the terrorist threat” ahead of Election Day.
Three years after the withdrawal, which Rice categorized as “chaotic,” the FBI arrested an Afghan national over an alleged terrorist plot planned for Nov. 5 in Oklahoma. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was accused of planning to “acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS.”
Rice appeared on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on Wednesday to react, as she was the Secretary of State when U.S. occupation in Afghanistan began. Troops entered the country following the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
“Once we were in Afghanistan, once we had military bases there, we actually had on the ground in intelligence in a way that we don’t now, and I worried a great deal that our withdrawal from Afghanistan might actually increase the terrorist threat. It’s also the case that that withdrawal was so chaotic that I’m not surprised that some people got through on visas who probably shouldn’t have,” Rice said. “So, good for the FBI. We have to remain vigilant because we are safer than we were on 9/11, but we are not safe, and this is just one of those reminders that fighting terrorism is a daily event, particularly for the men and women of intelligence.”
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The FBI caught Tawhedi as he and a juvenile co-conspirator attempted to buy two AK-47 rifles, 10 magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition from an FBI asset. Officials confirmed he arrived in the United States on a special immigrant visa following the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Tawhedi is facing charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism. If convicted, he could receive a sentence of up to 15 years.