GHANI’S BRAVADO: Despite dire assessments of the U.S. intelligence community that the withdrawal of U.S. and foreign troops from Afghanistan will likely result in an eventual Taliban takeover, the country’s president insists Afghan security forces are well-positioned to prevent the collapse of his government.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, President Ashraf Ghani said he was not worried about an imminent takeover because for two years now, 90% of the current operations against the Taliban have been conducted by the Afghan defense and security forces, which number more than 300,000.