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 ...
When has US Intelligence ever had it right
That may be the single best take down since I joined FR.
Too bad it won’t last long.
L
What does US Intelligence get right?
F-ing worthless, way over expensive FBI. CIA, NSA, failed to see the fall of the Soviet Union?
can’t see that you walk across the street on a green light?
How much do we spend on this horse shit agency?
The border. The economy. Foreign Policy.
Biden has the Sadim touch. Everything he touches turns to shit.
US intel? What a joke! They’ve been more involved in destroying DJT and WOKE and 1/6 Patriots then finding out what’s going on in the world.
THIS is why they need fewer incompetent, politically-driven operatives making “analysis” and more software, AI-driven intelligence from companies like Palantir.
So does the house intel committee, which is worthless.
ABC coming to the rescue of our cracker jack “intelligence community.”
Really, show us peasants your INTELLIGENCE.
Is that a rhetorical question?
Why didn’t they send in Andrew Cuomo or Lori Lightfoot to straighten this thing out?
The other “intelligence”. It does’t take a triple digit IQ to figure out where the failure occurred.
"The intelligence community assessment has always been accurate; they just disregarded it"
Sound familiar?
I remember US Marine HUMINT reporting warnings on an incipient insurgency in Iraq before there was an insurgency in Iraq in OIF.
It was ignored too because it didn’t fit into the flag-waving narrative of winning.
Yep.
Well, the assessment may have been right, but the pampered princes in the pentegon didn't want to hear it b because it didn't match the narrative the CIC was spouting. . . .
Not so sure these psychotics got it right for their demonic plans.
For them its just another caper to bring in more foreigners more than happy to execute Americans in the homeland
The focus on airlifting Afghanis out of the airport w/o proper vetting and NOT prioritizing Americans is the evidence here
Well to use the old Clintoon standard it depends on the meaning of wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.