‘It goes from despair, sadness to anger’ says north Texas Air Force Veteran who served in Afghanistan
Published atDALLAS, Texas (KTVT) – The deaths of 12 U.S. troops only days before the military pulls out of Afghanistan hit veterans back home especially hard.
The attack also raises concerns about what some experts are predicting will be a new era of terrorism.
“It goes from despair, sadness to anger,” said Dr. David Grantham.
Grantham served in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2008 as an Air Force Counter Intelligence Officer.
He watched the scenes from the Kabul Airport from his home in North Texas with pain in his heart.
“It’s tough,” said Grantham. “I think the biggest challenge is overcoming the fact that Afghanistan can look on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 it can look like it did when we got there.”
Grantham has written a book about his work on the ground in Afghanistan and its terrorist organizations.
He says the fact that the U.S. was able to quickly identify ISIS-K as the group responsible means that the military should be in a good position to retaliate.
“We have 20 years of intelligence, ISIS-K came on the scene, probably 2014, 2015 at its zenith, we know who they are, we know where they’re at and we could retaliate if we want to, but it’s a matter of tactical information to make sure we have the right locations the right people,” he said.
“I suspect our military is going to be incredibly engaged actively in trying to catch the bad guys,” said criminologist Alex del Carmen.
The Tarleton State University Associate Dean of Criminology warns what happened Thursday, August 26, could fuel more attacks against the U.S., especially overseas by those drawn to the new terror cell.
“I really do believe that this is going to be the face of a new era of terrorism around the world and unfortunately we have to brace ourselves around the world for impact,” said del Carmen.