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Until recently anyway, 20 years of sustained counterterrorism pressure through the us, britain, nato, different partnerships and different afghan governments over time, al-qaeda s ability to threaten the west, whether the us, britain, was significantly diminished and reduce. that was not necessarily the case in the early years after 9/11. i was in government then and to see the amount of attention al-qaeda was still putting on, it was really shocking to see. despite all the relentless operations directed against them. on the one hand, al-qaeda s ability to threaten the us and the west has been diminished, nowhere near it was before hand. at the same time, the us and western withdrawal, the us and western withdrawal, the collapse of the government, now we have a different ....
Play on the beach the one where they spend all day building an elaborate sand castle only to stomp it to the ground? that s our isis strategy. joining me now is our panel. we have reuters white house correspondent jeff mason, former assistant deputy secretary of defense farkas, and msnbc political analyst kimberly atkins and msnbc news investigative correspondent ken dilanian. and, ken, i want to start with you because this disaster is unfolding. i had a briefing actually with a top counterterrorism official a few weeks ago and i asked him under what circumstances could isis resurge, become a greater threat to the united states. and he said if the counterterrorism pressure is taken away and the counterterrorism pressure was brought by our proxies, our allies in the region, the kurds ....
Fighters in iraq and syria and around the world and it will, quote, exploit any reduction in counterterrorism pressure to strengthen its clan des sent presence. obviously president trump is intent on reducing the counterterrorism pressure because he wants to pull the u.s. troops out of syria. this is why leaders in the pentagon are very opposed to doing this because they know that islamic state is still a threat. it has not been eradicated. it has tens of thousands of fighters. this is all coming out. so that s on isis and syria. i really wanted to ask you, too, about this inf treaty and how the u.s. is suspending the nuclear arms treaty with russia. people are worry that had this could create a new arms race but you who have been highly critical of trump wrote this opinion piece last october where he could actually get it right on this. do you still stand by on that? ....
Narcissism of these recruits. do you suspect that these al qaeda groups in africa were sitting there watching what isis did in paris and said, hey, we got to get in this game? yeah, i think there s that component of it, which is the competition part. the other thing we shouldn t overlook, they know a lot of counterterrorism pressure will come down after a paris attack. if you have a plot in the pipeline, you have two choices. either go to ground and hide out or if you ve got a good plot underway, go ahead and accelerate and try to get it launched, which is what you would prefer to do. let s address each of those separately. first, notoriety or infamy is probably a better word in this case. how important is it for these terror groups to stage these horrific attacks in terms of keeping their ranks full? it is what inspires these folks, particularly online and in the ranks. when you look at al qaeda during their decline last decade, a lot of it came because they weren t just havin ....
Against hotels frequented by tourists. we are all seeing increased activity by a more diverse set of groups and a more diverse set of threats. reporter: it was just last week that u.s. officials alluded to the new threat, without giving the details of why they were so concerned. despite the significant counterterrorism pressure abroad, al qaeda continues to be committed to high-profile attacks directed at the west, including plans against europe as well as the homeland. reporter: all of this helps to explain tramarase the ar wih drones in the mountainous area along the pakistani and afghan border. at least 70 attacks this year alone, with new ones announced each day. as general david petraeus explained to martha raddatz of abc news. the sanctuaries and safe havens, again, there will have to be more done about them. and you re putting pressure on? there will have to be more pressure on them, there s no ....