Al-Qaeda Could Strike U.S. From Afghan Base Next Year, Spies Say

  • Defense intelligence chief says that’s conservative estimate
  • Pentagon officials say ‘over the horizon’ capabilities remain

Osama bin Laden's last known Afghanistan home in the Tora Bora cave complex in the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan, in 2004. 

Photographer: Reza/Getty Images
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Al-Qaeda may be able to reconstitute itself in Afghanistan and be capable of orchestrating attacks inside the U.S. in one to two years, two senior U.S. intelligence officials said.

“The current assessment probably, conservatively, is one to two years for al-Qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland,” Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said at an intelligence conference on Tuesday.