The fall of the Afghan government and army in 11 days shocked the Western world. The clumsy policymaking of the US administration and the failure of US intelligence’s assessment have been exposed to the world. The US ability to respond to crises has long been exaggerated. US intelligence services appear as if they are omnipotent. Although US intelligence agencies had made mistakes before, and even fell into political scandals of disinformation, US manipulation of public opinion as well as Western public opinion deeply influenced by Washington helped conceal those wrong doings. The “prowess” of American intelligence agents promoted by movies like Mission: Impossible is often more accepted by audience. The drastic change in Afghanistan can be regarded as a fact sheet that pricks the bubble of American-style hypocritical propaganda. It is so shocking that no lies can hide. It has revealed the true competence of US intelligence agencies and their lack of pragmatism and independence. If US intelligence agencies could have predicted earlier the collapse of the Afghan army, the Biden administration wouldn’t have ordered such a hasty withdrawal. It is said there are some 1,000 US intelligence agents in Afghanistan, along with an unknown number of local informants and paramilitary fighters. But clearly, US agents hadn’t penetrated into Afghanistan’s grassroots, or understood the actual conditions of regions occupied by the Taliban, or acknowledged the real thoughts of Afghan government and grassroots combatants. After the Cold War, the US intelligence community has been increasingly politicized. Perhaps the victory in the Cold War promoted US political arrogance, making Washington believe that it can rule the world even if there are some strategic flaws. As politicians and ruling groups care more about their own interests, the intelligence community has had to cater to those domestic political interests. Thus, the intelligence agencies have conceded their accuracy for cozying up to politicians. The Biden administration rushed the military withdrawal and flaunted the decision as an achievement of the Democratic administration. The intelligence community worked to support Biden’s decision instead of ringing the alarm to embarrass the Biden team. Even though they might have different opinions, they expressed it mildly. Such being the case, the intelligence agencies’ assessment showed to people it was more optimistic than that of media. Until August 11, a US defense official still cited US intelligence as saying that Taliban fighters could isolate Kabul in 30 days and possibly take it over within 90 days. Famous intelligence agencies like the CIA behaved like a bunch of idiots while more like frauds because they didn’t have concrete intelligence while adhering to the political principle to prioritize what supervisors want. Their ability to predict the situation in Afghanistan was even weaker than many ordinary people who follow international news on their smartphones. What is worrying is that Biden has ordered the CIA, which is not capable but only does investigations that cater to the needs of its boss, to investigate origins of COVID-19 three months ago. According to the deadline, the intelligence agencies are expected to submit their report by the end of this month and make a conclusion whether the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan or jumped naturally to humans from animals.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times News Exchange Item
