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CIA Looks to Afghan Neighbors to Support US Mission: Report
[ToloNews] The New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
 on Sunday published a report outlining the CIA's struggle to put together a new counterterrorism strategy as US troops withdraw from Afghanistan. "The CIA is seeking ways to maintain its intelligence-gathering, war-fighting and counterterrorism operations in the country," The New York Times reported, citing CIA analysts warning of the "ever-growing risks" of a Taliban
...Arabic for students...
 takeover.
Given the New York Times’ relationship with the truth, and the CIA’s habit of using friendly news media for purposes not necessarily related to their primary function, one wonders what to make of this.
The report focused on Pakistain, saying "the CIA used a base there for years to launch dronezaps against faceless myrmidons in the country’s western mountains, but was kicked out of the facility in 2011, when US relations with Pakistain unraveled.

Any deal now would have to work around the uncomfortable reality that Pakistain’s government has long supported the Taliban."

The Times article stated that discussions are ongoing over the use of Pakistain for more bases:

"In discussions between American and Pak officials, the Paks have demanded a variety of restrictions in exchange for the use of a base in the country, and they have effectively required that they sign off on any targets that either the CIA or the military would want to hit inside Afghanistan, according to three Americans familiar with the discussions."

The Times reported that US diplomats are exploring the possibility of establishing US bases in the region with former Soviet republics, but expect that Russia's President Vladimer Putin would oppose this.

Citing "several people familiar with the assessments," the Times report said that recent CIA and military intelligence reports on Afghanistan have been "increasingly pessimistic" and have "highlighted gains by the Taliban and other krazed killer groups in the south and east, and warned that Kabul could fall to the Taliban within years and return to becoming a safe haven for faceless myrmidons bent on striking the West."

William J. Burns, the CIA director, told US senators in April: "When the time comes for the US military to withdraw, the US government’s ability to collect and act on threats will diminish," adding: "That is simply a fact."

The CIA head visited Islamabad, Pakistain in recent weeks to meet with the chief of the Pak military and the head of the directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence
...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir...
, but a CIA spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about Burns’s travel to Pakistain, said The Times.

According to "American officials familiar with the conversations," The Times reported, "Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has had frequent calls with the Pak military chief about getting the country’s help for future US operations in Afghanistan."

The report noted that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke this month with his counterpart in Tajikistan, "though it is not clear if base access was discussed during the call."
Posted by: trailing wife 2021-06-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=603940