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Afghanistan's collapse: Did US intelligence get it wrong?
ABC News / Disney ^ | August 15, 2021 | By James Gordon Meek

Posted on 08/15/2021 6:18:48 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

As panicked Afghans watched Taliban fighters roll into the capital city of Kabul Sunday, sealing the collapse of the U.S.-backed government there, many Americans were left wondering how top Biden officials could have been so wrong in their recent proclamations that Kabul would not easily fall.

Just days ago, a U.S. military analysis reported by ABC News predicted that Kabul could fall within 90 days -- not by the weekend.

"This is a crisis of untold proportions," Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) told NBC News Sunday as Taliban militants swept into Kabul. "This is an intelligence failure. We underestimated the Taliban and overestimated the resolve of the Afghan Army."

But numerous U.S. officials tell ABC News that the opposite was true, insisting that key intelligence assessments had consistently informed policymakers that the Taliban could overwhelm the country and take the capital within week.

"[U.S.] leaders were told by the military it would take no time at all for the Taliban to take everything," an anonymous U.S. intelligence official told ABC News. "No one listened."

Other intelligence sources said that Biden and his team of advisers had reached their decision about the U.S. military's withdrawal -- which was all but completed on July 4 -- based on a variety of factors that went beyond Kabul's fate.

A senior congressional official who asked not to be named in order to discuss sensitive briefings told ABC News that intelligence officers had warned the U.S. leaders about a swift and total victory by the fundamentalist Taliban militants who had held power in Kabul during the late 1990s up until after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The intelligence community assessment has always been accurate; they just disregarded it," the official told ABC News, speaking about the Biden administration.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; bidenvoters; bidenvstrump; election2020; ilhanomar; quagmire; taliban
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1 posted on 08/15/2021 6:18:48 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Yes


2 posted on 08/15/2021 6:19:44 PM PDT by PeteB570 ( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Biden. Owns. This.


3 posted on 08/15/2021 6:19:48 PM PDT by Kharis13
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Rhetorical question in headline, right?


4 posted on 08/15/2021 6:20:17 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA (“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” ― Thomas Jefferson)
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To: PeteB570

no.
Biden is lying


5 posted on 08/15/2021 6:20:34 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

They were too busy tracking down American citizens who said nice things about Donald Trump over the past 5 years.


6 posted on 08/15/2021 6:20:59 PM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

All of the Deep State got it wrong. Deep,State installed this piss-poor excuse of a man. Now what?


7 posted on 08/15/2021 6:21:02 PM PDT by Chgogal (#GulagNancy is going all Cuba on Trump Supporters.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The IC are NOT really all that Intelligent.

See Clapper and Brennan.


8 posted on 08/15/2021 6:21:03 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Critical Marx Theory is The SOLUTION....)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The so called intel people gave the Biden pentagon thugs, info that they wanted to hear not reality.


9 posted on 08/15/2021 6:21:15 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (If I wanted to live in Australia, China, Cuba, Canada, the UK, or Chicago! I'd move there! )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

ABC needs to visit the local zoo and interview the chimps on this vexxing question....

;-)


10 posted on 08/15/2021 6:21:20 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Grampa Dave

So dog fight between cia and dems...who will win?. Schumer better be careful


11 posted on 08/15/2021 6:22:28 PM PDT by RummyChick (R.I.P. https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3974843/posts?q=1&;page=1)
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To: Grampa Dave

I was going to say, this might have been more of a political decision and blunder despite what the facts indicated. Imagine that, an occupation mishap because of politics.


12 posted on 08/15/2021 6:23:09 PM PDT by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

They were so busy pondering six ways to Sunday of retribution against Trump. Besides, does anyone think they care anymore about this country than a crackhead selling so called art?


13 posted on 08/15/2021 6:23:44 PM PDT by patriot torch (Ashlie Babbitt-say her name)
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To: ConservativeInPA

“Rhetorical question in headline, right?”

Exactly, hahahaha.


14 posted on 08/15/2021 6:23:58 PM PDT by Parley Baer (go trump )
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FU, Disney


15 posted on 08/15/2021 6:24:04 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Anonymous intelligence officials.


16 posted on 08/15/2021 6:24:08 PM PDT by Fido969 (45 is Superman!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

In case you don’t know the CIA is spying on us. Why do to all the effort to spy on terrorists?


17 posted on 08/15/2021 6:24:56 PM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

US intelligence was focused 100% on Trump supporters


18 posted on 08/15/2021 6:25:26 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: Antoninus
They were too busy tracking down American citizens who said nice things about Donald Trump over the past 5 years.

Bingo.

Just two days ago the greatest domestic terrorist threat were from people opposed to mask mandates.

19 posted on 08/15/2021 6:25:42 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Too busy investigating Trump.


20 posted on 08/15/2021 6:26:48 PM PDT by Brilliant
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