[Quqnoos] The US intelligence agency is sending teams of spies and paramilitary operatives to Afghanistan, Los Angeles Times reports.
| Thank you for the publicity, LAT. Any notes on how we should recognize them? |
| Blond hair. Blue eyes. Yale pin. |
The precise numbers are classified, but one US official has said the US Central Intelligence Agency already has nearly 700 employees in Afghanistan.
| That's like a brigade or something, I think. More than the Pope has. |
The surge of CIA agents parallels the US military expansion in the war-torn country as President Barack Obama has doubled the number of US troops in Afghanistan this year.
The incoming spies are receiving a broad range of assignments, including working in tandem with special forces units hunting high-value targets, tracking public sentiment in regions seen as shifting support toward the Taliban and gathering intelligence on corruption in the Afghan government, the Times said.
| In other words, normal spy stuff. That's not really news. |
The CIA push comes at a time that the Taliban-led insurgency has reached a record-level in Afghanistan and the movement conduct sophisticated attacks across the country, including the fortified Afghan capital, Kabul.
The agency's station is based at the US Embassy in Kabul, according to LA Times. But the bulk of the CIA's workforce is spread among a group of secret bases and military outposts that dot the country.
| The country. Would that be Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Pashtunistan? |
One of the largest concentrations of CIA personnel is at Bagram air base north of Kabul, which for years was the site of a secret agency prison, and the headquarters for U.S. military special operations forces.
| One imagines it was Attorney General Holder's office that leaked this information, to reduce the need for prosecutions later. One hopes most sincerely one is wrong. |
|