18 months since the Taliban rampaged across Afghanistan and seized Kabul, questions about how the CIA was blindsided by another insurgency continue to rise. As violence breaks out in the Horn of Africa, worries mount that history may repeat itself.
in favor of Taiwan. Under Presidents Barack Obama, Trump, and Biden, U.S. Special Forces and Navy SEALS trained Somali counterparts to fight the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabab militia. Somaliland now claims that they have captured some of these U.S.-trained Somali forces fighting alongside al Shabab as well as police forces dispatched across the border from Ethiopia’s southern Ogaden region.
The question the State Department and the CIA should ask is how the U.S. embassies in Mogadishu and Addis Ababa, as well as their respective chiefs of station, managed to miss a major plot involving multiple political groups, militias, and even countries. In Afghanistan, a major problem was that U.S. personnel remained quarantined behind compound walls while both the Taliban and a hostile intelligence service in Pakistan roamed the country.
The U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu has no such excuse. Somaliland, with the exception of Sool today, is safe. Diplomats from other countries roam the capital Hargeisa without security. However, not only did U.S. Ambassador Larry Andre Jr. refuse to visit Somaliland except when visiting delegations demanded an appearance, but he also did not allow more junior embassy staff or the U.S. defense attache to make the trip. Once again, petulant deference to Mogadishu’s sensitivities trumped effectiveness.
The State Department often says it needs more money to do its job. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but so long as its diplomats are unable to or refuse to leave their compounds, no amount of money will enable embassies to do their jobs. Hiding behind security or prioritizing the sensitivity of unelected leaders over counterterrorism and American national security is not the way to defend democracy or the liberal order. The CIA has less of an excuse.
If there ever were a time for Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director William Burns to ask tough questions of their subordinates, it would be now. If they will not do so, it is time for Congress to act.
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