Three years after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the scars of failure remain etched in both the landscape of Kabul and the hearts of those who served, reminding us that some lessons, learned in blood, seem destined to be forgotten by some, but not by others.
With every step away from the convoy and into the shadows of Kabul, I knew my choices were my own—solitary, dangerous, and irrevocably mine.
In the heart of the quiet gym, as I ran on the treadmill, oblivious to the world changing outside, I couldn’t have imagined that the news of an airplane hitting the Twin Towers would catapult us from relentless training into the grim reality of war.
Navigating the uncharted aftermath of the US and NATO’s abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan, the international community faces pivotal uncertainties and opportunities to reshape counterterrorism strategies, address humanitarian crises, and manage the political reshuffling, as the swift Taliban takeover casts shadows over the future of global terrorism and the fate of Afghan governance and human rights.
Capturing the gravity of Operation Jawbreaker, we recount the daring early days of the War in Afghanistan, where CIA officers from the Special Activities Division, laden with boxes of cash to leverage local alliances, navigated treacherous terrain in a Russian Mi-17 helicopter to hunt down Osama bin Laden and combat the Taliban.
In the shadowed valleys of Panjshir, the ‘Jawbreaker’ team maneuvered discreetly, armed with cutting-edge tech and age-old diplomacy, bridging the past with the present in a quest for a safer future.
10th Mountain soldiers board a CH-47 Chinook in Afghanistan. September 4th, 2003.
The Taliban ultimately won the war in Afghanistan by biding their time and waiting out the US-led coalition. Not knowing how to run an already third-world economy, the Taliban’s theocratic and archaic laws have only exacerbated the cataclysm tens of millions of Afghans face. Nevertheless, the group now rules over a pile of ash, and the militants are solely responsible for the deterioration of Afghanistan.
US Special Forces soldier “Randy” gets a little heated with a suspected al-Qaeda supporter in Narizah, Afghanistan, 2002.
Team Alpha were a group of CIA agents who entered Afghanistan on October 17, 2001.
Then Captain Mark Nutsch of ODA 595 travels by horseback in Afghanistan. Today, he crafts a damn fine whiskey.
US Air Force pararescuemen from the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron are shown in Afghanistan
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