Ex-CIA director warns of al Qaida threat in Afghanistan
As the nation marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11, jihadists were celebrating the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell said on Sunday.
The Taliban’s swift takeover in Afghanistan as U.S. troops pulled out inspired jihadists all over the world, Morell told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“The Taliban is saying we just didn’t defeat the United States; we defeated NATO. We defeated the world’s greatest military power ever,” he said. “So there’s a celebration going on.”
He added that the Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in a stunning series of events last month, “is harboring Al Qaeda today.”
The terrorist group’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a video released on Saturday, months after rumors spread that he was dead.
“How are we going to make sure that Al Qaeda is not rebuilding its capabilities and is planning on attacking us again?” Morell said. “If we do that, then we have to collect the kind of intelligence that gives you the precision you need to conduct strikes, right? Drones need to be told exactly where on the Earth to go.”
The Pentagon has said a vehicle targeted by a U.S. drone strike during the evacuation of Afghanistan was carrying explosives, but reports have since cast doubt on those claims.
“What happened here, it needs to be investigated,” said Morell, who served two stints as acting CIA head under former President Barack Obama.
“And I would hope that the administration, once it does the investigation that it tells all of us publicly exactly what happened. And if we made a mistake, why?”
There are “a lot of people to blame” for chaos during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said, also on Sunday.
“It would be nice — and keep in mind, even under the prior president I would say this exact thing — for some people to just take responsibility. That’s what the American people want, is somebody to stand up and say, ‘Look, this is on me,’” Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, told “Face the Nation.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who’s set to testify about the withdrawal before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, is among those deserving blame, Kinzinger said.
With News Wire Services
