PressTV-‘CIA increasing covert ops in Afghanistan’

The US Central Intelligence Agency is reportedly expanding its covert operations in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

The spy agency is set to deploy “highly experienced officers and contractors” in a stated effort to take on Taliban militants, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

“The new effort will be led by small units known as counterterrorism pursuit teams. They are managed by CIA paramilitary officers from the agency’s Special Activities Division and operatives from the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s intelligence arm, and include elite American troops from the Joint Special Operations Command,” the report said.

The measure serves as a shift in the CIA’s policy towards Afghanistan, under Director Mike Pompeo, according to two senior US officials.

“We can’t perform our mission if we’re not aggressive,” the CIA chief said at a security conference at the University of Texas earlier this month. “This is…

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