As he justified sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $30 billion a year, President Barack Obama's description Tuesday of the al Qaeda "cancer" in that country left out one key fact: U.S. intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in the entire country.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.
You've kinda gotta define "al-Qaeda" in this case. There's Binny's relatively small staff, mostly Arabian Arabs, which is probably what's being referred to here. There are also probably a couple thousand Uzbeks belonging to IMU, and an unknown number of Chechens, plus Pak hard boyz affiliated with organizations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. All of these guys are as likely to be on one side of the border as the other, depending on how hot things are.
President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, "al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border."
| Yes, yes. When the Punjabi Taliban have been wiped out to the last unwilling pearl-faced boy, and the Pashtun/Pakhton Taliban have been at least decimated, perhaps then we can start to think about talking about having made progress on the real problem. |
A spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, Chris Hensman, said he could not comment on intelligence matters. |