During an interview with the Fox News Channel aired on Thursday’s broadcast of “Special Report,” former CENTCOM Commander Gen. Frank McKenzie (Ret.) defended cutting a deal with the Taliban to provide security outside the perimeter of the Kabul airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and acknowledged that before the deadly suicide bombing at the airport, there were ISIS-K targets “that we passed to the Taliban to take a look at,” and they didn’t act on some of these targets.
McKenzie stated, “So, there were a variety of targets that we passed to the Taliban to take a look at, more than ten. Some they did, some they didn’t [act on]. We had nothing specific about a hotel that we asked them to take a look at.”
Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin then asked, “Do you think the Taliban let the suicide bomber through intentionally?”
McKenzie answered, “I don’t believe so.”
Griffin then asked, “Do you regret cutting that deal with the Taliban to have them provide security outside the perimeter?”
McKenzie responded, “I do not regret cutting that deal. And I feel, had we not done so, our casualties would have been significantly higher.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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