Retired general: US has ‘very limited ability’ to see into Afghanistan

Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie on Sunday warned about what he sees as a reduced intelligence capability in Afghanistan after the United States withdrew ground troops last year.

“I think that we have a very, very limited ability to see into Afghanistan right now,” McKenzie told CBS “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan during an appearance on the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. 

“I’ve said I think we’ve got certainly less than 2 or 3 percent of the intelligence capability that we had before we withdrew,” he added.

McKenzie, who led U.S. Central Command, retired from active duty in April, months after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

McKenzie has said he advised President Biden to maintain 2,500 troops in the country, but when asked on Sunday why he didn’t resign since Biden pursued a complete withdrawal, McKenzie said doing so would have sent a “very bad signal.”

“Once civilian leadership makes a decision, even though I might disagree with that decision, it is my moral responsibility to execute that order,” McKenzie said. “To resign is not in the history, is not something that us officers have typically done.”

The Biden administration has stressed that a drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in late July provides proof that the United States can continue to fight terrorism even without troops stationed in Afghanistan.

McKenzie on Sunday pushed back on that narrative, noting that al-Zawahiri was killed in downtown Kabul and makes clear the Taliban have an “inability to keep their word” to prevent terrorists from finding safe haven in Afghanistan.

“I would be careful about drawing conclusions about our ability to operate effectively in Afghanistan, in a counterterrorism sense, based on that single operation,” McKenzie said on CBS.