An Al Qaeda Comeback in Afghanistan?

An article published in The Daily Beast by Bruce Riedel on January 13, 2014 is entitled "Al Qaeda's Next Comeback Could Be Afghanistan and Pakistan". He cites the example of the U.S. withdrawing completely from Iraq and the current situation there (Al Qaeda resurgence). A worry is that without a signed Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) the U.S. will lack the bases from which to launch a raid into Pakistan (similar to the Abbottabad raid). In addition, we won't have any bases from which to fly our drones. Sure, long distance drone operations and direct active missions can be launched from neighboring countries (hard to coordinate and get approval) and from aircraft carriers but distance makes it problematic. Without a residual counter-terrorist force based in Afghanistan Al Qaeda may very well make a comeback in the Afghanistan and Pakistan area of operations. A lot is riding on the approval of the Bilateral Security Agreement.