Panetta on Afghanistan: ‘No Question that They’re Providing a Safe Haven for Terrorists’

Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta weighed in on former al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s reported killing in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Panetta suggested that Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul was proof Afghanistan had become a “safe haven for terrorists” a year following President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal.

“[A]nother mission that came out of 9/11 was that we were going to make sure that Afghanistan would never again be taken over by the Taliban and become a safe haven for terrorism. Unfortunately, that has happened,” Panetta lamented.

“The Taliban is now in charge of Afghanistan,” he continued. “There’s no question that they’re providing a safe haven for terrorists. The Haqqanis, who are involved with the Taliban, are terrorists themselves. And the fact that Zawahiri, one of the top leaders of al-Qaeda, could simply walk into Kabul, get an apartment in the middle of the capital; not have anybody raise any questions sends a real signal that the Taliban is going to continue to provide a safe haven for terrorism. And the United States has a real responsibility to continue to be able to determine whether or not there are going to be threats against the United States or our allies emanating from Afghanistan.”

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