CNN’s Poppy Harlow Hits the Biden Administration Over Afghanistan: How Could They Be ‘So, So Far Off?’

CNN’s Poppy Harlow took aim at the Biden administration in a Monday interview with former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI).

“How does the Biden administration miscalculate this intelligence so gravely?” Harlow asked Rogers in the morning interview. “How can you be so, so far off?”

Rogers, who led the House Intelligence Committee from 2011-15, recited some of the atrocities the Taliban had perpetrated since reassuming power in Afghanistan over the weekend, and said it was “shocking” for Biden administration officials to claim they were unaware innocent people would be “slaughtered” after American troops left the country.

“I mean, to say that they were surprised by events is a little bit shocking, because the intelligence for months has said that this thing is deteriorating quickly,” Rogers replied. “It was a combination of messages that were being sent to the Taliban. In negotiations, they started talking about, ‘Would you live our embassies alone?’ The Taliban said ‘Well, that’s a clue.’ When our last warrior-commander, Scott Miller, packed up and flew out about a month ago, that sent another very strong message. So we moved all of our ability to have airstrikes to keep them back seven hours away.

“All of these factors led to this really horrific decision that is going to get a lot of very innocent people slaughtered,” he added. “It’s not just about the people who work for the government … but also people, just shop owners, who turned on music or opened up an internet cafe are now at risk, because they believed that the United States was going to be there to help them get through those freedoms, even if it was going to be a long, tough slog.”

He noted the Taliban was closing girls’ schools, telling women to leave their workplaces, and punishing people with amputations. He also laid blame for the situation on the Biden administration’s doorstep, saying, “Before the first withdrawal of U.S. troops by the Biden administration, the Taliban was at least talking about shared governance. Once that happened, they stopped talking about shared governance and basically said, ‘You’re leaving, we’re taking over.'”

Watch above via CNN.