Washington (AFP) – Caught on the back foot by the Taliban’s lightning takeover of Kabul last August, US intelligence services have earned a measure of redemption with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which they predicted and detailed with impressive precision. According to several US officials consulted by AFP, the US military understood as early as October 2021 that Russian troop movements on the border with Ukraine were not normal — Moscow said they were conducting regular drills, but the formations on the ground did not match up. The Pentagon voiced its concerns to the White House, and US int…