US officials divided over CIA’s future role in Afghanistan

Senior US presidential advisers have proposed a secret expansion of the CIA’s role in Afghanistan as the American military may begin a troop pullout 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 the administration’s discussions” on the matter, The New York Times reported on Monday that officials of the Trump administration want CIA-sponsored Afghan militia groups in the war-torn country to serve as part of a US-backed “counterterrorism force that would prevent the resurgence 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 “logistical concerns” about the plan while other administration officials have underlined that operatives of the US spy agency — who propel and direct their own militia forces across Afghanistan to purportedly hunt down elements of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Daesh — mainly depend on the American military “for airstrikes, overhead surveillance, medical support and bomb technicians.”

Skeptics of the proposal have also pointed out that US intelligence agencies do not believe that the presence of Daesh terrorists in Afghanistan “justifies a vast increase in resources given limited budgets,” insisting that Daesh affiliates in the country do not pose “an immediate threat to the West” despite their regular terror attacks against Afghan civilians, the daily said, citing “intelligence officials.”

The issue, the report adds, “could pose an obstacle as American and Taliban negotiators seek a deal to end the longest war in United States history,” pointing out that “the Taliban have made clear that they see little difference between American military troops and CIA officers, and they have insisted in the current peace talks in Qatar that the CIA must leave along with international military forces in the coming months or over the next few years.”

The top US negotiator in the talks, Zaomay Khalilzad, declared over the weekend that the two sides were on “the threshold of an agreement” after the latest round of negotiations — which does not include representatives of the Afghan government. However, they have not directly addressed the issue of the CIA-sponsored militia groups in Afghanistan, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

ME