are piling in and cut sizing criticising the decision, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell saying today the biden administration had been reduced to pleading with the taliban to protect the us embassy, and said the us risked a humiliating sequel to the fall of saigon in 1975. i think this is a stain on the biden i think this is a stain on the biden presidency. and i think this is a rethink of how reliable the us is as a partner going forward. the afghans feel betrayed and when you see potentially facing millions of refugees flooding across turkey towards europe, there is a potential as many us military leaders have won that afghanistan could become a haven for terrorists. warned.
u.s. military failure, but also a u.s. intelligence failure. back in june, there were reports of an intelligence assessment that the afghan government could collapse six months after a u.s. withdrawal. a withdrawal that wasn t supposed to happen for another couple of weeks, by the way. then on wednesday, that was revised down. u.s. intelligence warning it could be 30 days until the taliban isolated kabul. 90 days until they took it over. which brings us to today. afghanistan s president ghani has fled the country. taliban insurgents are trapsing through the presidential palace and video out of kabul looks reminiscent of the fall of saigon. the questions many of us are asking right now, how did this happen? who s to blame? joining me now, a senior advisor to the senior official in the obama state department and colonel jack jacobs. colonel, let me start with you. for decades, the vietnam war has
of an intelligence assessment that the afghan government could collapse six months after a u.s. withdrawal. one that wasn t supposed to happen for another couple of weeks. then on wednesday, that was revised down. u.s. intelligence warning it could be 30 days until the taliban isolated kabul. 90 days until they took it over. which brings us to today. afghanistan s president ghani has fled the country. taliban insurgents are trapsing through the presidential palace and video out of kabul looks reminiscent of the fall of saigon. the questions many of us are asking right now, how did this happen? who s to blame? joining me now, a senior advisor to the senior respect in the obama state department and colonel jack jacobs. colonel, let me start with you. for decades, the vietnam war has been seen as a defeat of america by a militia, put a stain on
already the republicans are piling in and cut sizing the decision, republican leader mitch mcconnell saying the biden administration had been reduced to pleading with the taliban to protect the us embassy and said the us risked a humiliating sequel to the fall of saigon. i think this is a rethink of how reliable the us is as a partner going forward the afghans feel betrayed and when you see potentially facing millions of refugees flooding across turkey towards europe, there is a potential as many us military leaders have won that
it is not inevitable. the jury is still out, but the likelihood there s going to be the taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. reporter: look, as kylie was saying, the administration is now arguing that ultimately while they may have misestimated how long it would take the taliban to get to kabul, you know, they were prepared for the contingencies, and that s why they were able to get these forces in there to withdraw u.s. embassy personnel. but, again, there is a huge amount of daylight there between what the president said about a month and a half ago versus what is happening now on the ground after nearly 20 years of u.s. military involvement. the taliban appear to be in control of afghanistan. and lots of questions about whether there were some intelligence failures as well. jeremy diamond, thank you so much for that. up next, the imminent fall of kabul is echoing the fall of another city back in 1975, the fall of saigon.