The Biden administration's "over-the-horizon" strategy in Afghanistan is drawing serious questions from lawmakers and counterterrorism experts, as the U.S. withdrawal shifts calculations about threats and capabilities.
Driving the news: Tensions ramped up in an Aug. 27 conference call between President Biden's top national security officials and senators from both parties, sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios.
- With the 20th anniversary of 9/11 behind us and Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to testify this week before House and Senate committees, expect more public questions.
The big picture: Critics tell Axios that Biden and his team have yet to provide sufficiently detailed plans or explanations about their counterterrorism strategy to lawmakers conducting oversight.
Details: The so-called over-the-horizon capabilities Biden has repeatedly touted make identifying and striking terrorists with aerial surveillance and drones launched from outside the country the linchpin of America's post-withdrawal counterterrorism strategy.
- But some experts warn relying solely on such capabilities in the conditions that exist currently has never been done.
- In every country where the U.S. has deployed elements of an over-the-horizon strategy, like in Yemen, Somalia, or Iraq and Syria, it's had an intelligence network, a nearby air base and some form of local partner on the ground.
- In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan — where the CIA has evacuated its sources, the nearest air bases are in the Gulf and the local security partner is an FBI-wanted terrorist — it has none.
Behind the scenes: About 1pm on Aug. 27 — the day after the Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghan civilians — some of Biden's top national...