CIA Expanding Presence in Afghanistan- AMONG LARGEST CIA STATION IN HISTORY

[Orwellian_Ghost]

CIA expanding presence in Afghanistan

The buildup coincides with new warnings that the Taliban has continued to gain territory and strength. McChrystal wants to improve intelligence on the Taliban and focus on reducing the number of bombings.


A special operations plane is readied for a mission in Afghanistan. The U.S. may expand the use of teams that combine CIA operatives and special operations soldiers. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press / September 5, 2009)

Reporting from Washington - The CIA is deploying teams of spies, analysts and paramilitary operatives to Afghanistan, part of a broad intelligence "surge" that will make its station there among the largest in the agency's history, U.S. officials say.

When complete, the CIA's presence in the country is expected to rival the size of its massive stations in Iraq and Vietnam at the height of those wars. Precise numbers are classified, but one U.S. official said the agency already has nearly 700 employees in Afghanistan.

The influx parallels the U.S. military expansion and comes as the nation's spy services are under pressure from Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal to improve intelligence on the Taliban and find ways to reverse a series of unsettling trends.

...

The spies are being used in various assignments -- teaming up with special forces units pursuing high-value targets, tracking public sentiment in provinces that have been shifting toward the Taliban and collecting intelligence on corruption in the Afghan government. The intelligence expansion goes beyond the CIA to involve every major spy service, officials said, including the National Security Agency, which intercepts calls and e-mails, as well as the Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks military threats.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-intel20-2009sep20,0,6061626,full.story

[ixion]

1. get out of Iraq and Afghanistan now

period.

[Old and In the Way]

2. So, forget, China, Russia, and the next 50 biggest industrialized nations

this is our biggest concern? How stupid of us.

[jakeXT]

13. China, Russia are not far away

[Ian David]

3. Nothing stabilizes a country more than knowing there are thousands of foreign spies operating there!

[Orwellian_Ghost]

6. And why are they there?

Every single act of the CIA has been to use insurgence and covert violence to secure the resources of a country and it's citizens for the benefit of the corporate and government elite. It is what they were designed for.

Is this what's called change?

[dflprincess]

4. Is the expansion "deficit neutral"?

:sarcasm:

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[bertman]

7. Vietnamistan: the continuing downward spiral of Empire. Recommend.

[Mari333]

8. all those tax dollars spent on BULLSHIT instead of Health Care

fucking war party priorities.

[leftstreet]

9. K&R

[EFerrari]

10. CIA must be doing good business with the poppy growers. n/t

[Orwellian_Ghost]

11. McChrystal’s Assessment

McChrystal’s Assessment

McChrystal has submitted his assessment of the security situation in Afghanistan and will also offer an analysis of how many additional U.S. forces may be needed. As American public opinion becomes more wary of the war, administration officials are under pressure to limit requests for more troops.

Al-Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan before the U.S. invasion to topple the Taliban following the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., is seeking other havens. They and the Taliban set up bases in neighboring Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, drawing missile attacks from CIA-directed Predator drones.

“Our operations in Pakistan, directed at al-Qaeda, have been very successful in disrupting al-Qaeda as far as their operations and their planning,” Panetta said.

If Yemen or other vulnerable nations become failed states, the CIA must be ready to “interdict” al-Qaeda agents before they can set up cells there, Panetta said.

...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aea63RATz1lM

Interview with Alfred McCoy, professor of Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; author of The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade

http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/DARKALLIANCE/ciaheron.html

[blindpig]

12. Echos?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

14. Bump