Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that the United States is safer than before the 9/11 attacks, despite concerns about the loss of its “eyes and ears” in Afghanistan after the United States could lose its “eyes and ears.” President Biden
Joe Biden The FBI releases the first document of 9/11 after Biden’s executive ordered the transfer of Afghan pilots to the U.S. base after fleeing to Uzbekistan: WSJ’s NATO chief says l alliance signed the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan MOREthe military withdrawal last month.
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rice told the host Dana Bash
Dana Bash The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Questions on Biden’s agenda; unemployment benefits will end the Supreme Court ruling on the Texas abortion law, which alternates lawmakers. that the creation of the The Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter-Terrorism Center helped protect the U.S. from future attacks.
Rice also trumpeted the dismantling of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 attacks.
“Denying them the territory of Afghanistan meant they could not train and could not operate the way they did that day, ”he said.
But Rice added that he would separate the successes of the past 20 years from the latest decision to end U.S. involvement on the ground.
“The part that doesn’t make me feel very comforted is that we lost our eyes and ears on the ground in Afghanistan which helped us know where the terrorists were, which allowed us to do the kind of operations that sometimes you have to run against terrorists, ”he said.
Still, he said the U.S. is still safer than before the 9/11 attacks.
“We lost Bagram and other airfields that allowed us to run certain operations, even with drones,” Rice told Bash. “And therefore I would be the first to say that we have lost some of our capabilities, but this should not diminish those we still have. We do, we are even safer. I hope we can stay so safe in the future. ”
Rice’s comments come a day after the U.S. commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which killed more than 3,000 Americans.