Father of Alabama CIA agent, first known American killed in Afghanistan, calls on leadership to ‘fix mistake’ upon withdrawal from the troubled country

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The father of an Alabama CIA officer, Mike Spann, who was the first known American to be killed while serving in Afghanistan not mincing his words about how the U.S. handled the end of America’s longest war.

“To all those people who went to fight, and take the fight to them, and keep us safe in America for these 20 years, my hats off to you,” Johnny Spann said. “You did not lose this war. You were forsaken.”

20 years had passed and four administrations since Johnny Spann’s son was murdered, Spann was the most furious with President Joe Biden.

“We were not prepared,” Spann said.

President Biden admitted, Monday, that the collapse of Afghanistan happened quicker than intelligence anticipated. However, Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

“How many more American lives is the Afghanistan’s civil war worth to us,” The President asked during his address to the nation.

The Taliban took a stronghold of Afghanistan quickly sparking fear and chaos in the country.

Spann was not satisfied with Biden’s reasoning.

“What he should’ve said was I’ve messed this up. I’ve made a terrible mistake,” said Spann. “He can blame on [the previous administration] if he wants to, but the buck stops at his desk. That’s what he said today.”

“I’m thinking, what was his motives? Maybe he’s just incapable of handling it? Maybe he’s not got the guts to be the president? May he’s not got what it takes to be the president to keep America safe. That’s one scenario,” Spann pondered. “Another scenario would be that he just don’t care... maybe he don’t care about promises made to the Afghan to get them to help us catch Bin Laden, destroy Al Queda, kick the Taliban out.”

“Why would a man make decisions that would put America at risk like we were 20 years ago,” he asked.

Spann was also concerned about the safety of the Afghan allies and their families who helped the U.S.

“We made a promise to them for helping us and we did not keep that promise,” he explained.

Spann said what his son and thousands of others have fought and died for, freedom, is now more at risk without a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

“We need to know what’s going to know what going on. We don’t need them to be able to plan another attack like 9/11,” Spann advised.

Meanwhile, the U.S. planned to send thousands of troops to Afghanistan to assist with the departure of embassy staff and allies.

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