Neoconservatives in the United States continue to control the country’s foreign policy and have a “grand scheme” to keep US forces in Afghanistan “permanently,” an American investigative journalist says.

The US-led coalition fighting the ISIL terrorist group was designed by neoconservatives, which “looks like an excuse to keep US troops engaged in conflicts in Afghanistan and elsewhere for an indefinite period of time,” said Wayne Madsen — an author in Florida who specializes in international affairs.

Neoconservatism, a political movement born in America during the late 1960s, strongly advocates the promotion of US interests, including by means of military force. The movement peaked in influence during the George W. Bush administration after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The movement had its intellectual roots in the Jewish monthly review magazine Commentary. Neoconservatives are staunchly pro-Israel and advocate a permanent war against anyone or any country who disagrees with Israel.

“The neocons are still in charge of US policy and they intend to have US troops permanently stationed in an arch of belly from Ukraine all the way to Afghanistan and Iraq in between, northern Syria in between, and any other country they deem necessary,” Madsen told Press TV on Saturday in a phone interview.

“What I see happening here is a grand scheme again by the neocons who never left this (Obama) administration from the last (Bush) administration,” he noted.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the United States is escalating a secret war in Afghanistan, despite an official end to foreign combat mission in the country.

Washington has increased secret night raids in Afghanistan since October, when American and Afghan commandos found a laptop computer with files allegedly detailing planned terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, the newspaper said.

The report cited unnamed American and Afghan officials as saying that US forces are playing direct combat roles in many of the raids and are not acting as merely advisers.

AHT/GJH