CIA closing in Afghan bases in shift toward Yemen & N. Africa. Drone patrols of Pakistan to continue

CIA closing bases in Afghanistan as it shifts focus amid military drawdown

By Greg Miller, Published: July 23

The CIA has begun closing clandestine bases in Afghanistan, marking the start of a drawdown from a region that transformed the agency from an intelligence service struggling to emerge from the Cold War to a counter­terrorism force with its own prisons, paramilitary teams and armed Predator drones.

The pullback represents a turning point for the CIA as it shifts resources to other trouble spots. The closures were described by U.S officials as preliminary steps in a plan to reduce the number of CIA installations in Afghanistan from a dozen to as few as six over the next two years — a consolidation to coincide with the withdrawal of most U.S. military forces from the country by the end of 2014.

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The CIA faces an array of new challenges beyond al-Qaeda, such as monitoring developments in the Middle East and delivering weapons to rebels in Syria. John O. Brennan, the recently installed CIA director, has also signaled a desire to restore the agency’s focus on traditional espionage

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U.S. officials stressed that the CIA is expected to maintain a significant footprint even after the pullback, with a station in Kabul that will remain among the agency’s largest in the world, as well as a fleet of armed drones that will continue to patrol Pakistan’s tribal belt.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-closing-bases-in-afghanistan-as-it-shifts-focus-amid-military-drawdown/2013/07/23/7771a8c2-f081-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_story.html