CIA swears revenge for Afghan attack
Sense Of Betrayal In US Admn; Bomber May Have Been A ‘Source’ Who Turned Rogue
Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN
Washington: The CIA has sworn to avenge the killing of seven of its operatives by a suicide bomber at a forward operating base (FOB) close to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, including that of the female base chief who was a mother of three children.
Great fury and a sense of betrayal is sweeping through the US administration, the military, and the intelligence agencies as details emerge of the horrific massacre, said to be the agency’s biggest single loss after eight agents were killed in the infamous Beirut bombing in 1983.
“There are plenty of people here who are capable and willing to make sure that these people will be avenged,” a US intelligence official said. “This attack will be avenged through successful, aggressive counterterrorism operations.”
Within hours of the massacre, there were two US drone attacks inside Pakistan, killing, according to initial accounts, five suspected terrorists. The attacked FOB named Chapman, close to the ****** border near Khost, was said to be a nerve centre of CIA covert ops including drone strikes and special forces infiltration.
Meanwhile, there is much anger and hand-wringing in Washington over what appears to be another monumental security ****-up days after the so-called “undie-bomber” nearly succeeded in blowing up a commercial airliner in Detroit last week and weeks after the Fort Hood massacre. In both cases, there were red flags that seemed to have been ignored.
In this case, a Taliban operative or sympathizer wearing an Afghan army uniform is said to have walked into FOB Chapman without any security check and detonated his suicide vest exactly at a time when there were maximum personnel around him. There is some confusion over whether the suicide-bomber was an Afghan soldier or not. The Taliban
claimed he was a “valorous soldier” of the Afghan army but the Afghan army and government spokesman in Kabul say that is not true.
But it appears that the CIA may have been cultivating him as a source, which is how he was able to enter the complex and getting in pretty deep — he detonated the vest in a basement gym — without any screening.
One account said it was the first time the ‘source’ had been brought to the FOB and a specialized debriefer had been flown in from Kabul for the session with the ‘source’. In either case, the attack has furthered the mistrust between the Afghan army and the Americans who are supposed to be their mentors.
In Washington, officials from President Obama down wrote commiserating letters to the CIA, the lobby of whose headquarters in Langley bears 90 stars carved in marble, each dedicated to an operative who has fallen in the line of duty. Most of them remain unnamed and unknown to the public. At least five more will be added to the memorial wall now because two of the seven who fell in the latest attack are believed to been contract employees attacked to the security firm Xe services, previously known as Blackwater.
In a letter to the agency, Obama mourned the deaths of “patriots” who he said had made great sacrifices. “The US would not be able to maintain the freedom and security that we cherish without decades of service from the dedicated men and women of the CIA. You have helped us understand the world as it is, and taken great risks to protect our country. You have served in the shadows, and your sacrifices have sometimes been unknown to your fellow citizens, your friends, and even your families,” he wrote.
The initial finger of suspicion in this case points to the Haqqani faction, which is backed by the Pakistan military and intelligence and which is credited with attacks on the Indian Embassy in Kabul.
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