Militants may use Afghan chaos to infiltrate US, EU: NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has warned that the militants could join migrants fleeing Afghanistan, adding on to security threats for Europe and the US after the American withdrawal from Kabul earlier this week.

Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO’s senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, in an interview, said, "We have put in place measures to avoid that, but in big numbers it’s a risk".

The European Union is eager to stem migration from Afghanistan and has cited the potential security threat.

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As of now, about 500,000 people have been displaced in Afghanistan this year.

However, there has not been evidence of people entering neighbouring countries, nor has there been significant movement toward the bloc, according to an EU diplomatic note seen by Bloomberg.

While NATO could be involved in assisting with the ISIS-K threat, Pontecorvo conceded that the role of the alliance will be subject to “a lot of soul searching and questions” after the chaotic withdrawal of Western forces.

“NATO is pretty rock-solid but there are a lot of lessons that can be learned.”

EU member states have also raised similar concerns about the risk of Afghanistan becoming a harbour for terrorist groups under the Taliban.