CBS’s 9/11 25th Anniversary Report from Afghanistan Plays Like a Taliban Ball Spike

Jorge Bonilla
September 9th, 2026 1:19 AM

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Recent reporting ahead of the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 reminds us that CBS is not even close to being the right-wing caricature its media hall monitor critics say it is. Over the course of three reports, the pattern seems to be to absolve President Biden of anything to do with the fall of Afghanistan due to his hasty pullout.

The first of these reports aired on Sunday’s CBS Weekend News. The first of multiple dispatches from London-based correspondent Imtiaz Tyab makes no mention of President Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of the country (click “expand” to view transcripts):

 

 

CBS EVENING NEWS (via CBS NEWS 24/7)

9/6/26

10:16 PM

JERICKA DUNCAN: The events of September 11, 2001 will be commemorated nationwide this week. Friday marks 25 years since the attacks and the soon-to-be-launched global war on terror. Tonight, CBS’s Imtiaz Tyab is in Kabul, Afghanistan with more on what was lost.

IMTIAZ TYAB: Jericka, good evening. The September 11th attacks sent the United States into Afghanistan and began America’s longest war. It ended five years ago with the rapid collapse of the republic Washington built and the return of the Taliban, with millions of Afghans once again living under the hardline rule the war was meant to end. 

In the heart of Kabul, there is no doubt who’s in control. Everywhere you look, the flag of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate flies high, and there’s almost no trace of the U.S.-backed republic that collapsed five years ago. Just behind this wall was the American Embassy, the seat of U.S. power here in Kabul for decades. It’s now empty, and you might even see over there a fist punching an American flag. The Taliban’s defiant return in 2021 followed 20 years of brutal war. The United States and its allies had spent two decades, more than a trillion dollars, and thousands of lives fighting the Taliban, trying to build an Afghan state and military that could survive without them. Neither did, and the consequences for most Afghans, especially women and girls, has been devastating. Abdul Qahar Balkhi is the spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

[TO BALKHI] Does the Taliban condemn what happened on September 11?

TALIBAN SPOKESMAN ABDUL QAHAR BALKHI: Even back then, our position was very clear: That targeting civilians, places and individuals is a condemnable action. That was our position back then, it is our position today.

TYAB [TO BALKHI]: So, you do condemn it?

BALKHI: We condemn any attacks on civilians anywhere.

TYAB: And while the Taliban government of today says it condemns attacks on civilians, it still denies many of its own citizens basic rights: Girls are barred from school, women pushed from public life and critics are silenced. Five years after America’s longest war ended, Jericka, this is the Afghanistan that’s left behind.

DUNCAN: Imtiaz Tyab, thank you. 

In addition to the lack of any mention of Biden, there is a gross downplay of how bad conditions have become for women and girls since the Taliban takeover. This stuff is systemic, but Tyab treats it like it’s an anomaly. Also note Tyab’s gentle questioning of the Taliban spokesperson with regard to attacks on civilians, and pro forma solicitation of condemnation of 9/11. 

Another part of Tyab’s reporting the next day ran on CBS Mornings, with a broader focus on the billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment left behind by the Biden administration:

 

 

CBS Mornings

9/07/26

7:13 AM

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: This week, Americans are remembering the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago. Those attacks led to America’s longest war, which ended with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan five years ago and the Taliban’s return to power. Imtiaz Tyab covered the war and is back on the ground, where Taliban fighters are firmly in control.

IMTIAZ TYAB: On the streets of Kabul, the hardware of America’s longest war is nearly everywhere. Taliban fighters patrol in armored vehicles once supplied to Afghan forces, wearing American tactical gear and carrying American weapons. On this Humvee, we even saw a worn Green Bay Packers sticker on it, a remnant from its past operators. President Trump has bitterly criticized the Biden administration for what he says is abandoning billions of dollars of military hardware like this, and is demanding that the Taliban hand it back. /At this military parade, the Taliban proudly displayed its American-funded arsenal. Pentagon figures show $7 billion in hardware and weaponry fell into the group’s hands when the Afghan National Army collapsed. Shortly after the 2021 withdrawal, we even filmed with Badri 313, an elite Taliban special forces battalion outfitted in American commando gear. Badri 313 is clearly a force to be reckoned with, and everything from their vehicles to their uniforms to their weapons are American. Abdul Qahar Balkhi is the spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

[TO BALKHI] Will Afghanistan return that military hardware to the U.S.?

ABDUL QAHAR BALKHI: That’s the assets of the state of Afghanistan, and we are in no business of doing transactions and deals on the assets of the state of Afghanistan.

TYAB [TO BALKHI]: President Trump would argue that the Americans paid for that; they should get it back.

BALKHI: The Americans did a lot of things. Americans killed a lot of people, destroyed a majority of the country. Should they not be paying for that first?

TYAB: Now, to be clear, the Taliban waged a vicious insurgency during a war that killed more than 2,400 American service members and tens of thousands of innocent Afghans. But critics of the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal say it’s allowed the Taliban to transform from insurgents and into a state armed with billions in American-funded firepower, Weija.

WEIJIA JIANG: Imtiaz Tyab in Afghanistan, thank you. 

Is this 9/11 coverage or Taliban military parade coverage? It isn’t quite clear because of the focus on the billions in military equipment abandoned by the Biden administration. Criticism of this abandonment of taxpayer-funded equipment is smeared as “bitter”- a Taliban-exclusive variant of the time-tested “Republicans Pounce.”  

Tyab segues into an exchange with the Taliban spokesperson that is set up to frame him in a strong light by eliciting a refusal to return the equipment abandoned by the Biden administration. Tyab notes that the Taliban “waged a vicious insurgency that killed more than 2,400 American service members and tens of thousands of innocent Afghans,” a “to be fair” response necessitated by his lack of response to the Taliban official’s non-sequitur suggesting Americans owed reparations to Afghanistan. Finally, Tyab closes by putting a “Biden critics say” frame on a factual statement: that the Biden pullout “allowed the Taliban to transform from insurgents and into a state armed with billions in American-funded firepower”. This is not in dispute, but Tyab wants to put a big asterisk on it.

Tyab would essentially rehash that report for the Evening News, with fresh introductions:

CBS EVENING NEWS

9/7/26

6:39 PM

TONY DOKOUPIL: The 9/11 terror attacks 25 years ago this week were planned from inside the Taliban-controlled country of Afghanistan, a country that tonight is not only back under Taliban control, but with Taliban fighters carrying American weapons and driving around in American vehicles. Our report tonight from Imtiaz Tyab in Kabul.

IMTIAZ TYAB: America may have left Afghanistan, but on Kabul’s busy streets, signs of its longest war still remain. Taliban fighters still patrol in American armored vehicles, wear American tactical gear, and carry American weapons. Even this Humvee still bears a Green Bay Packers sticker, a remnant of its American past. President Trump has bitterly criticized the Biden administration for what he says is abandoning billions of dollars of military hardware like this, and is demanding that the Taliban hand it back. The Taliban proudly displayed its U.S.-funded arsenal at a military parade last year. Originally meant for the now-collapsed Afghan national army, the Pentagon says it’s estimated to be worth at least $7 billion.

ABDUL QAHAR BALKHI: So, things could evolve.

IMTIAZ TYAB: Abdul Qahar Balkhi is the spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

[TO BALKHI]: Will Afghanistan return that military hardware to the U.S.?

BALKHI: That’s the assets of the state of Afghanistan. And we are not in the business of doing transactions and deals on the assets of the state of Afghanistan.

TYAB [TO BALKHI]: President Trump would argue that the Americans paid for that. They should get it back.

BALKHI: The Americans did a lot of things. Americans killed a lot of people, destroyed the majority of the country. Should they not be paying for that first?

TYAB: Now, to be clear, the Taliban waged a vicious insurgency during a war that killed tens of thousands of Afghans and more than 2,400 U.S. service members. And, tonight, ahead of 9/11's 25th remembrance, those insurgents once again rule Afghanistan, but are now armed with billions in American firepower, Tony.

DOKOUPIL: Imtiaz, thank you very much.

There is very little observance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks going on in this series of reports. What CBS viewers got instead, from a correspondent known for pushing Hamas and Hezbollah points while covering the war in Gaza (and Lebanon), was more in line with a Taliban ball spike. “Look at the Talibs in their resplendent American gear” is not at all commemorative of 9/11. Once again, we are reminded that the Bari-Weiss-led CBS is far removed from the “MAGA-coded” caricature the Media Hall Monitors would like you to believe it is.

Curtis Houck contributed to the preparation of this report.

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