Britain faces its worst terrorist threat in years, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned.
It comes after former army commanders, MPs and diplomats warned the UK was less safe after the tense Taliban takeover of Kabul in recent weeks.
Johnson promised to use "every lever we have" against terrorism in the bleak caution, writes The Times.
The PM also offered the cruel terror group diplomatic recognition if they prevented further attacks from Afghanistan.
He added he could recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government if it helped prevent the country from becoming a hub for planning attacks against the West.
Johnson urged the 457 British troops who died during the 20-year military campaign didn't lose their lives "in vain".
He referred to the horrific destruction of Osama Bin Laden's networks to argue the sacrifices of British lives meant it was "no accident that there has been no terrorist attack launched against Britain or any other western country from Afghanistan in the last 20 years."
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He said: “If the new regime in Kabul wants diplomatic recognition” it would have to “prevent Afghanistan from again becoming an incubator for global terror."
Yesterday, the US launched another drone strike in the country against what it described as an "imminent" threat to Kabul airport, led by ISIS-K suicide bombers.
Days before, President Joe Biden issued a grave warning to the extreme group, declaring they'd be 'hunted' down after the devastating suicide bomber attack at the airport.
Last week's blast killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 US military personnel.
However, Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British troops in the country, said the UK faced "the greatest danger" from terrorist attacks since the Islamic State was at its height.
He added the threat could be bigger than posed by ISIS to Times Radio.
Colonel Kemp said the Taliban “will allow and probably encourage jihadists to pour into the country from around the world, who plan, meet, prepare, train, organise and carry out strikes against the West from Afghanistan."
Former British ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Nicholas Kay said the Nato withdrawal was "premature" as the mission hadn't been completed in eliminating terrorist threats.
He said: “We are less well placed now to tackle it because we have no presence on the ground.”
Whereas an intelligence source told the paper ISIS-K opposed the Taliban and there was "no evidence" attacks were to take place outside Afghanistan's border.
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