Terror Plot Shows U.S. Must Not Leave Afghanistan Early, Says Ex-White House Adviser

A recently discovered terror plot targeting mostly Western European nations demonstrates why the U.S. must keep troops in Afghanistan, according to an expert on that region.

In an interview with me today, Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, whose resume includes stints at the State Department and the White House, said the plot indicates that U.S. forces must continue to apply pressure on the generally lawless area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

“[The plot] shows that Pakistan’s tribal areas remain the most dangerous terrorist safe-haven in the world today,” Curtis said. “It demonstrates why it is so critical that we do remain in this part of the world until the situation is stable.”

U.S. and European officials announced last week that they possessed “credible but non-specific” information about a terrorist plan to conduct ‘commando’-style attacks on targets in both Europe and possibly, the United States. Reports then surfaced that some of the suspects involved may have been German citizens that received training from terrorist organizations in Pakistan.

Sources also believed that al-Qaeda was involved with planning the attacks, and that the group’s leader, 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, may have personally given executing orders.

Though the State Department on Monday issued an alert for Americans living or traveling in Europe, U.S. officials made it clear today that the U.S. was not a direct target of the plot. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the threat “isn’t related to the United States,” adding that President Barack Obama was briefed about the plot while on a cabinet retreat at Camp David over the weekend.

Curtis pointed to recent drone missile strikes carried out by the CIA inside of Pakistan as evidence that the U.S. may have severely disrupted the plot.

“U.S. intelligence agencies seem to be on top of this,” she said, adding that “it looks like Pakistan is cooperating with this particular plot, too.”