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US media-intel nexus seeks to keep American troops in Afghanistan

Afghanistan High Commission for National Reconciliation Chair Abdullah Abdullah (L), President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani (C) and US President Joe Biden sit during a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

The US media-intel nexus is pushing an “intelligent leak” purportedly to keep American troops in Afghanistan even after about 20 years of war in the country.

The Washington Post has leaked “an assessment” from intelligent agencies claiming that the government in Kabul could fall soon if American forces left the country.

The government of Afghanistan could collapse as soon as six months after the American military withdrawal from the country is completed, the pro-US establishment newspaper reported on Friday quoting American intelligence sources.

In a story first run by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, and rerun by other US outlets during the week, US officials with claiming to have knowledge of the new assessment said withdrawal evaluations of the US military and the American intelligence agencies were now closer. 

The new assessment is that the Kabul government could fall within six to 12 months, the sources were cited as saying.

The fall of the government in Kabul could come more quickly than previously forecast, according to the US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

The new assessment of the overall US intelligence community, which had been optimistic about Kabul's grasp over the country, was now aligned more closely with the more pessimistic analysis that had been generated by the US military, it said.

US media also claimed that the American intelligence community's assessment had not been previously reported.

The military has already withdrawn more than half of its 3,500 troops and its equipment and US President Joe Biden has vowed to withdraw the rest of the US forces in Afghanistan by this year's anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a peace deal between the Taliban forces and the Afghan government violence has surged across the country in past months.

Since early May, Taliban have launched major offensives against Afghan government forces and civilians across the country, and claims to have seized at least 87 of the country’s 421 districts.

In recent days, northern Afghanistan has been the scene of fierce fighting between government troops and the Taliban with the militant group trying to capture key cities in the region.

The Taliban militant group also recently took control of the country’s main border crossing with its northern neighbor Tajikistan.


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