Fighting Terrorism Will Be Harder Now

Wall Street Journal: “As a chaotic and deadly U.S. evacuation winds up, the U.S. has lost many of its key assets for tracking violent militants and their plots.”

“Gone are the military bases and other infrastructure that provided a platform for operatives from the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies. Gone is the U.S.-backed Afghan government and its intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, which worked closely with American spy services. Gone, evacuated or scattered are Afghan agents and troops who fed on-the-ground information to the CIA.”

“U.S. officials acknowledge the military has lost 90% of the intelligence collection capabilities it had using drones before the drawdown of forces began in May.”

Walter Russell Mead: “Instead of freeing it to think about Afghanistan less, the messy withdrawal means that for the foreseeable future the White House will have to care more about what happens there but with fewer tools to manage the situation.”