CIA head said to have made unannounced trip to Afghanistan

CIA head said to have made unannounced trip to Afghanistan

CIA Director William Burns made a current unannounced go to to Kabul, a senior politician and a well-placed public determine informed The Related Press, as considerations mount about Afghanistan's functionality to battle terrorism as soon as the US has withdrawn its remaining troops by summer time.

Individually, a senior former Afghan safety official deeply accustomed to the nation's counterterrorism program stated two of six models educated and run by the CIA to trace militants have already been transferred to Afghan management.

The three males spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren't authorised to debate delicate safety points with the media.

In Washington, the CIA declined to remark when requested concerning the director’s schedule and the company’s position in Afghanistan.

Afghan particular forces stand guard on the website of a suicide bomber assault on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. (File photograph) (AP Photograph/Rahmat Gul)

In deciding this month on an unconditional troop pullout by September 11, President Joe Biden had argued that a key goal of the US invasion — to stop terror assaults on the US from Afghan soil — has been met.

The pullout deadline marks the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida terror assaults on the US, which triggered the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, senior US officers have cautioned that the withdrawal poses dangers.

Burns just lately informed the US Congress that neither al-Qaida nor Islamic State extremists have the power to stage assaults towards the US.

Nonetheless, “when the time comes for the US army to withdraw, the US authorities’s potential to gather and act on threats will diminish, that’s merely a reality," he stated.

Burns quietly visited Kabul final weekend, the politician and the general public determine stated. They might not say whom Burns met with, however stated a few of the discussions addressed Afghanistan’s preparedness after the US pullout.

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Burns additionally reassured Afghan officers that the US would proceed to be engaged in counterterrorism efforts.

But considerations are mounting that Afghanistan's safety forces will not be capable of halt a march by Taliban insurgents on government-held territory or battle terrorist teams with out the assistance of US and NATO troopers.

An AH-64 Apache assault helicopter flies above as US Troopers at Process Drive Iron at Bost Airfield in Afghanistan watch on. (AP)

Already, the Taliban management or maintain sway over half the nation.

The previous safety official stated he believes terrorism-fighting capabilities shall be considerably decreased as soon as the roughly 2,500 to three,500 US troops and seven,000 allied NATO troopers depart.

The official stated the CIA had been coaching and operating Afghan particular forces often known as Counter Terrorism Pursuit Groups, or CTPT.

The groups are situated within the provinces of Kunar, Paktia, Kandahar, Kabul, Khost and Nangarhar. He stated the plan is to progressively hand them over to the Afghan intelligence service, referred to as the Nationwide Directorate of Safety. Thus far, the Kunar and Paktia models have been transferred to Afghan management, he stated.

The CTPT groups are feared by many Afghans and have been implicated in extra-judicial killings of civilians. In 2019, the top of the Afghan intelligence service, Masoom Stanikzai, was pressured to resign after one in every of these models was implicated within the abstract execution of 4 brothers.

An Afghan man walks by way of a poppy subject in Surkhroad district of Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photograph/Rahmat Gul)

Earlier this yr, in Afghanistan's japanese Khost province, one of many groups was accused of gunning down civilians in a counterterrorism operation. The United Nations has additionally criticized the techniques of those models, beforehand blaming them for an increase in civilian casualties together with rebel teams.

The previous safety official stated that with out the US troops, Afghanistan's technical intelligence gathering will endure. Proper now, a few of the biggest successes in preventing terrorism and the narcotics commerce have come from US intelligence gathering, he stated.

A number of months in the past, US intelligence uncovered dozens of methamphetamine laboratories producing medicine with a road worth within the West of over $1 billion, the official added.

In the meantime, each the US and the Afghan authorities consider that the menace from al-Qaida and Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate has been considerably lowered.

US troops have already begun leaving Afghanistan. (US Marine Corps / Sgt. Justin T. Updegraff)

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the highest US common for the Center East, advised the US Senate Armed Providers Committee on Tuesday that each teams have been “considerably degraded” in Afghanistan due to US army strain in recent times.

Nevertheless, the post-pullout state of affairs can be difficult, he stated. McKenzie stated getting drones and different plane into Afghanistan to offer overhead surveillance or to conduct counterterrorism strikes will take significantly longer and would require much more plane.

He additionally stated it is going to be extraordinarily troublesome however not inconceivable for the US to seek out, monitor and take out terrorist threats in Afghanistan as soon as all American troops are withdrawn.

In the meantime, a Western diplomat in Afghanistan stated the sudden US announcement of an unconditional withdrawal left many safety questions unanswered — similar to what occurs to NATO's surveillance gear and the enormous blimp that hovers over the capital. The blimp offers real-time intelligence and 24-hour surveillance.

David Barrett, a professor at Villanova College who specializes within the historical past of intelligence coverage, stated the troop pullout will scale back the quantity of intelligence gathered by the army and finally offered to the CIA. However the US can nonetheless monitor digital communications and different alerts with its superior know-how, and will intervene militarily if it assessed a menace to an American goal, he stated.

“We've got superb capabilities for figuring out what’s occurring on the bottom,” he stated.

“If anybody, anyplace in Afghanistan decides they need to develop any capacity to strike the US, they might be making a really huge mistake.”

Related Press author Nomaan Service provider in Washington contributed to this report.

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