CIA Director “Very Proud” of Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal – IOTW Report

CIA Director “Very Proud” of Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal

Wa Ex: CIA Director William Burns said he is “very proud” of the agency’s analysis in Afghanistan in 2021 despite being blindsided by the swift collapse of the Afghan government and failing to predict how quickly the Taliban would take Kabul.

The Taliban rapidly took over Afghanistan in mid-August amid a chaotic U.S. military withdrawal, and a suicide bombing by ISIS-K late that month killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians as the United States led evacuation operations at the airport, with the Taliban providing security outside.

Hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies and interpreters were still in the country when the U.S. left before the end of August.

Burns said Wednesday during an Aspen Security Forum discussion that he was “very proud … of the analysis, with all of its imperfections, that we tried to provide to policymakers over the six months leading up to the withdrawal.”

The CIA director prefaced this by admitting the agency had not predicted the Taliban would take over the country as fast as they did and that “all of us have lessons to learn from experiences like that.” He suggested that the CIA had at least gotten it less wrong than other parts of the U.S. government. more

16 Comments on CIA Director “Very Proud” of Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal

  1. “The paperwork was neat with no typos, and the staples were perfectly aligned, an excellent analysis submission in every way that matters to me.”

    – Worthless, useless, shitbag alpha-bureaucrat

    15
  2. “The CIA director prefaced this by admitting the agency had not predicted the Taliban would take over the country as fast as they did and that “all of us have lessons to learn from experiences like that.” He suggested that the CIA had at least gotten it less wrong than other parts of the U.S. government.”

    President Trump predicted it.

    Saying that the CIA got it less wrong is a pathetic excuse for failure.

    12
  3. If they’re still sending billions to Afghanistan, then it’s only for one reason: heroin. I always thought our fed scumbag’s obsession with Afghanistan was tied into the heroin trade that the CIA uses for funding much of the illegal shit they do at the expense of the US public, as usual.

    6
  4. Mule; since the CIA was running the drug trade out of Vietnam when that clusterfuck was going on, it’s not a stretchy.
    Did anyone else notice the similarities between how we ended the VN debacle and the AFG debacle?
    Lots of lost taxpayer hardware, for one.

    5
  5. And just what was the rush to leave?
    Leaving all the equipment and allies and our people behind again???????
    I’m waiting.
    The message seems to be whoever you are, our military or other governments, never trust America.
    Bay of Pigs and South Vietnam come to mind as well.

    2
  6. @WDS
    JULY 25, 2022 AT 10:56 AM
    “They’re so proud of the withdrawal that they’re still sending money to the sh*tholistanis”

    You have to understand, maintenance on all that equipment we left behind is REALLY expensive!

    1
  7. It’s no surprise the gov’t can pull off such incidents and brag about it afterwards.

    Thirteen American lives lost. Nice goin’ guys. What do you have planned for an encore?

Comments are closed.