Analysis: Don’t trust estimates of Al Qaeda’s strength in Afghanistan
By Bill Roggio | September 22, 2020
The U.S. government, military, and intelligence services have provided inaccurate assessments of Al Qaeda’s strength in Afghanistan for more than a decade.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued that tradition by recently regurgitating that Al Qaeda has fewer than 200 fighters in the country.
This estimate, like previous ones, should not be trusted.
U.S. officials have downplayed Al Qaeda’s strength in Afghanistan for several reasons. Chief among them, the seemingly non-threatening number has been used to justify the preferred policy of disengaging from Afghanistan. The Obama Administration sought to negotiate a settlement with the Taliban and fulfill their campaign promise of leaving Afghanistan by the end of Obama’s second term.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2020/09/analysis-dont-trust-estimates-of-al-qaedas-strength-in-afghanistan.php
