Afghanistan report: ‘CIA and Pentagon arguing on different metrics’

A leaked CIA report says the situation in Afghanistan is mired in a stalemate, contradicting recent optimistic Pentagon statements. Robert Farley of the University of Kentucky believes intelligence and the military are looking at different things.

“There is some division between the intelligence community and the generals, but I also think that they are arguing on different metrics and they are looking at different things,” he told RT. “They also have different institutional interests. The generals most definitely want to make an argument that the military campaign is working. The intelligence community is taking a much broader view regarding the long-term political prospects of the success of the Western-allied government in Afghanistan, and those two are a little bit different. That’s why the CIA is saying something different than the Pentagon.”The report also claims that attempts to improve security are being undermined by corruption, incompetent governance, and Taliban fighters operating safely from neighboring Pakistan. Robert Farley says the latter will benefit even more from the current political instability in Islamabad, as well as from its state of affairs with the United States.“To the extent that the instability between the government and the military in Pakistan creates problems and friction with the United States – and to the extent that both sides in Pakistan are going to be seeking other allies within Pakistan – it’s going to make it that much harder for both the Pakistani government and for the United States to carry out any kind of operations against the Taliban guerillas that are operating out of Pakistan into Afghanistan,” Farley concluded.Khalil Nouri, who is the co-founder of the New World Strategies Coalition told RT the situation in Afghanistan is so grim that the US might be having second thoughts about withdrawing.“It has been 10 years that has not unified the country, as it should have been. It looks like there’s no chance for the Americans to see [the] Afghan government standing on its feet,” he said. “However, this could prolong Americans being in Afghanistan for quite a number of years, I would say, and the years are unknown at this time, but it looks like it’s going to be a long time because a corrupt government cannot function in a way that it is right now.”