As the Biden administration copes with the fallout from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the CIA is now facing a loss of spies on the ground & drones in the air that would normally be used to collect intelligence on terrorism threats & on the Taliban.
As the Biden administration copes with the fallout from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan — including concerns about possible attacks by the Islamic State against the U.S. evacuation effort and a resurgent al-Qaida — the CIA is now facing a loss of spies on the ground and drones in the air that would normally be used to collect intelligence on terrorism threats and on the Taliban, according to former agency officials.
One of the most immediate concerns are threats to ongoing efforts to evacuate Afghans who worked with the U.S. and coalition partners, along with American citizens still in the country. “The threat is real. It is acute. It is persistent. And it is something we are focused on with every tool in our arsenal,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan in a recent CNN interview.
Though the Taliban’s counterintelligence capabilities are not nearly as sophisticated as Iran or North Korea’s — both countries where the U.S. lacks a diplomatic presence, thereby limiting CIA operations — the physical dangers of operating in Afghanistan will drastically limit the ability for CIA officers to meet in-country with their sources, according to former officials.
But these shifts could be a major challenge for CIA, which became accustomed to relatively easy access to sources during America’s 20-year occupation of Afghanistan. However, “the terrain makes it difficult to do overhead stuff, and rely on that,” says Hoffman. “The terrain is very unfriendly. People can hide there.”
The Qataris have close political ties with the Taliban, which opened an office in Doha, Qatar, in 2013. The Emiratis, meanwhile, maintain connections to the Haqqani network, according to the former CIA official. The Haqqani network is a Pakistan-based Taliban affiliate designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 2012.
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