19 years and 8 months ago, I landed at Bagram Air Field outside Kabul with then SecDef Rumsfeld and a handful of reporters including @NorahODonnell & @BretBaier - covering the first US official visit since the start of military operations. 1/
2/ I remember a barren landscape, mortar holes in the hangar roof and one Spec Ops soldier on an ATV. The mission then was to neutralize Al Qaeda and end Taliban control of Afghanistan. In the years that followed, American ambitions grew, though without an explicit declaration.
3/ The US would help build the Afghan economy, for one and ween it off the opium crop. I remember a US General talking up alternative Afghan crops from nuts to flowers. The US would help build a democratically-elected government too. Elections became massive security operations.
4/ And education too: the US built schools, especially for Afghan girls. The number of Afghan girls in school and women in universities, including those at the American University of Afghanistan, became a regular US talking point for US officials on progress. Progress always.
5/ And the Afghan military. I covered the 1st graduating class of the Afghan Army. I remember snickers as the soldiers in their brand new informs were woefully out of sync in drills. But, over time, we were told, they would defend their country & - crucially - replace US forces
6/ The events of the last several weeks belied that. Afghan security forces fought bravely - and many thousands died in combat and terror attacks. But without the backing even of a small US forces, they folded in the face of a rapid Taliban advance. This is not cowardice…
7/ ..but calculation. The Taliban had the upper hand. The US and NATO were leaving. It made sense to accommodate the new reality. If your life and the lives of your family hung in the balance, would you make a different choice? Now here we are 20 years later.
8/ Right now, my thoughts are with the Afghan people under genuine threat: anyone who worked with or for the US or NATO, or women and girls who took the simple step of going to school, and others who were journalists or comedians or musicians
9/ And with US service-members who fought & died, or fought & # were wounded, or fought & suffered in other ways, and their families & loved ones. And their deep and unsettled feelings now about what it was all for. Find them today and find a way to show them support & gratitude

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More from @jimsciutto

16 Sep
Note this: Milley’s communications with China were not unusual. As I reported in Aug 2020, Trump’s advisers warned Iran and North Korea over fears he would start a war. See here: 1/ cnn.com/2020/08/06/pol…
2/From “The Madman Theory”: "We used to only think of Kim Jong Un as unpredictable. Now we had Trump as unpredictable," Joseph Yun, who served as President Trump's special representative for North Korea policy until 2018, told me. "And I would communicate that."
3/And on Iran: "We told allies that we did not know what the President would be willing to do against Iran," Mick Mulroy, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East until 2019, recalled. "It was possible he could make a decision that would lead to an escalation..”
Read 4 tweets
27 Aug
A personal story on @USMC and how they fight: in 2008, I was embedded with US Marines in Helmand province. On our way in, our convoy was hit by an IED. I remember seeing - but not hearing - the wheel of the lead humvee flying into the air. 1/
2/ Immediately after, the gunfire started. It’s the normal flow of a complex attack: explosion then gunfire. Four Marines in the lead humvee were injured & the convoy was under fire. But the Marines sprang into action. They delivered first aid to their fellow service-members.
3/ They returned fire. A medevac helicopter evacuated the wounded. And they protected us. All at the same time and all at great danger to themselves. And then - once the attack was over - the convoy rolled on and the Marines continued their mission.
Read 5 tweets
7 Aug
Americans now promoting or dreaming of fascism as a model for the US need to spend time in a fascist country: to witness how such governments lie to their citizens, steal from them, punish, imprison and kill critics and opponents, and aggrandize power to their own interests.
I’ve spent much of my career covering fascism and authoritarianism from China to Russia to Zimbabwe and beyond. There’s no need even to study the history books - though it would help - because these govts are alive and well today. Americans who praise their leaders - see Trump 2/
3/ Or do their PR - see Tucker Carlson - are either ignorant of the facts or envious of their power and control or perhaps both. Nothing of fascism is consistent with American principles of government. That this has become a partisan issue is deeply alarming.
Read 6 tweets
20 Apr
Count 1 - Guilty
Count 2 - Guilty
Count 3 - Guilty
Read 4 tweets
1 Apr
George Floyd’s former girlfriend, Courteney Batya Ross, breaking down now as she shares story of meeting Floyd for the first time: “He said, can I pray with you?”
Ross sweetly described this now familiar photo of Floyd as a “dad selfie”, smiling as she says dads don’t always take them from the right angle.
“Floyd and I both suffered from an opioid addiction”, Ross says. “It’s a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. We both suffered from chronic pain.”
Read 4 tweets
18 Mar
In two days, we had two alarming intel reports about two severe threats to the US: foreign election interference and domestic terrorism. Neither is new but both share a new, growing component: the aiding and abetting by Americans in positions of power. 1/
2/ The most alarming aspect of ODNI’s assessment of 2020 election interference was not that Russia interfered again and, again, to help Trump and hurt his Democratic opponent. Senior intel officials always tell me that Russia is predictably consistent.
3/ What’s most concerning is that Russia had help. ODNI report states: “A key element of Moscow’s strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives - incl misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against Pres Biden..”
Read 10 tweets

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