WASHINGTON – Senior US presidential advisers have proposed a secretexpansion of the CIA’s role in Afghanistan as the American military maybegin a troop pullout per a potential peace deal with Taliban militants inthe country, prompting concerns from officials of the spy agency and thePentagon.
Citing “half-dozen current or former officials briefed on theadministration’s discussions” on the matter, The New York Times reported onMonday that officials of the Trump administration want CIA-sponsored Afghanmilitia groups in the war-torn country to serve as part of a US-backed“counterterrorism force that would prevent the resurgence of” militantgroups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh in Afghanistan, in effect providing “aninsurance policy.”
According to the report, CIA Director Gina Haspel has raised “logisticalconcerns” about the plan while other administration officials haveunderlined that operatives of the US spy agency — who propel and directtheir own militia forces across Afghanistan to purportedly hunt downelements of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Daesh — mainly depend on theAmerican military “for airstrikes, overhead surveillance, medical supportand bomb technicians.”
Skeptics of the proposal have also pointed out that US intelligenceagencies do not believe that the presence of Daesh terrorists inAfghanistan “justifies a vast increase in resources given limited budgets,”insisting that Daesh affiliates in the country do not pose “an immediatethreat to the West” despite their regular terror attacks against Afghancivilians, the daily said, citing “intelligence officials.”
The issue, the report adds, “could pose an obstacle as American and Talibannegotiators seek a deal to end the longest war in United States history,”pointing out that “the Taliban have made clear that they see littledifference between American military troops and CIA officers, and they haveinsisted in the current peace talks in Qatar that the CIA must leave alongwith international military forces in the coming months or over the nextfew years.”
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The top US negotiator in the talks, Zaomay Khalilzad, declared over theweekend that the two sides were on “the threshold of an agreement” afterthe latest round of negotiations — which does not include representativesof the Afghan government. However, they have not directly addressed theissue of the CIA-sponsored militia groups in Afghanistan, according to asource familiar with the negotiations.[image: PressTV-US, Taliban reach agreement in principle: Envoy]link
The supporters of the plan to expand CIA support for its mercenary forcesbelieve it could address the most potent critique of the peace talks: “thata withdrawal of American forces would leave the United States with littleability to prevent terrorist groups from once again using Afghanistan as abase of operations.”
The Times said that “the disagreement about the future of the CIA inAfghanistan underscores the fault lines within the administration betweenthose who want a final withdrawal and those who fear it would expose theUnited States to terrorist threats.”
