By: Sadiq Amini
This article originally appeared in Foreign Policy on August 15, 2024.
Earlier this month, three of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stops were canceled in Austria after officials announced that they had arrested two men accused of plotting a terrorist attack focused on the singer’s stadium shows. One of the men was a 19-year-old Austrian citizen who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State online. There have been other recent attacks and plots targeting Western nations including the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, as well as Pakistan, India, Iran, and Russia.
The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has undoubtedly emboldened existing militant groups, such as al Qaeda, the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), Hamas, and others. And just three years after the U.S. withdrawal, Afghanistan risks becoming a breeding ground for international terrorism once again.
Sadiq Amini is a Non-Resident Fellow at ORF America.