TEHRAN (FNA)- Senior US presidential advisers proposed a secret expansionof the CIA’s role in Afghanistan as the American military may begin a trooppullout per a potential peace deal with Taliban militants in the country,prompting concerns from officials of the spy agency and the Pentagon.
Citing “half-dozen current or former officials briefed on theadministration’s discussions” on the matter, The New York Times reportedthat officials of the administration of US Presiden Donald Trump wantCIA-sponsored Afghan militia groups in the war-torn country to serve aspart of a US-backed “counterterrorism force that would prevent theresurgence of” militant groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh in Afghanistan,in effect providing “an insurance 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 added, “could pose an obstacle as American andTaliban negotiators seek a deal to end the longest war in United Stateshistory”, pointing out that “the Taliban have made clear that they seelittle difference between American military troops and CIA officers, andthey have insisted in the current peace talks in Qatar that the CIA mustleave along with international military forces in the coming months or overthe next few years”.
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.
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 NYTeported 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”.
According to the report, CIA-backed militias operate across Afghanistan andare used by the US and the Afghan government to target suspected terroristand insurgent cells.
“These militias have taken on increasingly dangerous missions inAfghanistan in the past year, seeking out hard-to-find and well-defendedterrorist leaders,” the report said citing a former senior DefenseDepartment official.
“They trace their roots to the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001,attacks, when the CIA began assembling a patchwork alliance of warlord-ledfighting groups to topple the Taliban and pursue Qaeda fighters,” it added.
Following the ouster of the Taliban and the establishment of a new Afghangovernment, CIA’s shadowy paramilitary force, known as Ground Branch,“began transforming the fighting groups”, the report added.
“Some developed into large, well-trained and equipped militias thatinitially worked outside the auspices of the Afghan government. Themilitias were used for sensitive and covert missions, including pursuingterrorist leaders across the border into Pakistan’s lawless frontierterritory,” it said.
Many of the CIA-backed militias “now fall under the command ofAfghanistan’s own intelligence service, the National Directorate ofSecurity, but there is little doubt they are still advised, and oftendirected by the CIA”.
Trump has recently vowed the United States would leave 8,600 troops inAfghanistan regardless of the outcome of the talks.