CIA bomber was Jordanian intelligence operative

Getting more complex by the second, the tale of the attack which killed 7 CIA agents in Afghanistan is also becoming much murkier. The bomber was “borrowed” from Jordan, and intended to infiltrate Al Qaeda.

That things went terribly wrong is obvious, but this is a classic “double agent” story. The bomber was arrested by Jordanian intelligence, then recruited. He obtained explosives at the Pakistan border, and attended the meeting fully loaded. According to The New York Times he “evaded” base security, and wasn’t under much scrutiny because of his status. His Jordanian “handler” was also killed. The Taliban have since identified the bomber as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi in an interview with Al Jazeera. The attack took place at a CIA operational facility called Forward Base Chapman. The base is used to plan strikes against Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives. The bomber was supposedly hired to find Al Qaeda’s second in command, Al Zawahiri. The CIA, understandably, isn’t commenting on the incident. It’s clear, however, that this is an unusual case of an operational method which is usually effective backfiring. In Iraq and elsewhere, information from diverse sources, including inside militant organizations and their defectors, is a generally useful weapon against terrorism. The CIA may actually have been lucky the bomber didn’t target any vital systems on the base, or go for a “mass destruction” approach. The base is apparently a sensitive spot, part of a larger operational network. It’s theoretically possible that he was planted on the Jordanians as an intending suicide bomber who was told to see what he could do. He was clearly still in contact with his “managers” at the Pakistan border. (High level terrorist attacks are usually "guided" by phone or other contacts.) There's another angle: If Al Qaeda was looking for a way of striking at the CIA, an approach through a third party with direct links like Jordanian intelligence would have been an obvious chance. It's also possible that AQ was trying to throw a spanner in the works regarding the relationship with Jordan. Jordanian intelligence is considered a reliable US ally, and it’s possible the attack was targeting that relationship.