A division of the Islamic State based in Afghanistan will be able to target US citizens in Europe and Asia within six months, a senior US general told a Senate committee.

General Michael Kurilla, head of US Central Command, told Congress that ‘at least hundreds of thousands’ of US citizens could be vulnerable to an attack by ISIS-K, which has the ‘ultimate goal to strike on the American homeland’.

ISIS-K – the Islamic State in Khorasan – is an ISIS affiliate based in Afghanistan and a sworn enemy of both the Taliban and the United States.