McClatchy quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on statements from European counterterrorism specialists that the US government did not consult with them on the Khorasan terrorist organization: 

Faysal Itani, a Syria specialist with the Washington-based Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, said U.S. officials had told him several months ago that “a bunch of guys had shown up from Af/Pak just to plan attacks,” referring to Afghanistan and Pakistan. But he said there were few details and no name for this contingent at the time.

“I wasn’t aware of anything called Khorasan,” Itani said.

He said U.S. officials might have wanted to shy away from using the Nusra name so as “to preserve a bit of room for maneuvering” with Syrian rebels, who view Nusra members as comrades against Assad, not as a global terrorist threat. In the wake of the attacks, rebel commanders sharply denounced the U.S. raids for including Nusra positions.

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