Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that the situation in Afghanistan is “worse” than before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the Taliban was now in possession of U.S. weapons.
McCaul said, “This over the horizon capability is greatly exaggerated because we don’t have anything near Afghanistan. It’s a landlocked country surrounded by our enemies, Russia, China, Iran, who have now been emboldened by this foreign policy, you know, blunder. So, you know, how do we — how do we go forward? I think we have to establish that ISR. You know, somewhere over the horizon capability means flying from a gulf, probably countries like Qatar, which would be, you know, anywhere from six to eight hours, having to fly, you know, around Iran, over Pakistan, get refueling. This is not — when I talk to anybody in the military, they tell me this is not adequate for us to have ISR capability.
He added, “What we need to see, eyes and ears on the ground to see the threat so that we can respond to the threat and eliminate it. We don’t have that capability anymore. And, Chris, we’re going back to pre-9/11 right now, but it’s worse.”
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