Afghanistan

First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA to Avenge 9/11- Review

Looking for the Perfect Christmas Gift or Reading Material? Look No Further

Award-winning author Toby Harnden has crafted an incredible story of the first Americans to enter Afghanistan immediately after 9/11. His book, “First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA to Avenge 9/11,” was initially slated to be released on the 20th anniversary of the U.S. involvement. Still, during his detailed 17-month research into putting this book together, the Afghan government collapsed, and the Taliban returned to power once again.

Harnden was granted some incredible access to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) employees, some of whom are still in government service. All of their stories and remembrances make for compelling reading. But as Harnden said, sometimes the best stories are the true ones. And this one is fantastic.

The Plan

The story begins on 9/11 when the members of al-Qaeda hijacked the planes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the one aircraft that was crashed into rural Pennsylvania. America is shocked and on its heels, reeling after ignoring some intelligence reports that the terrorists intended to bring death to America. Signals and intelligence were missed or not shared.

President Bush convened his National Security Council on September 13, and the Pentagon revealed that they had no war plan for Afghanistan. CENTCOM commander General Tommy Franks told the president it would take months to build up enough conventional troops for an invasion. CIA Director George Tenet turned the meeting over Cofer Black, an experienced Agency hand who had spent many years in Africa. The CIA’s plan was to infiltrate small numbers of Agency linguists and paramilitary officers along with some Green Beret A-Teams (ODAs) into Afghanistan to link up with the Afghan resistance, warlords from the Northern Alliance. Black sensed that President Bush wanted his pound of flesh.

“When we’re through with them, they will have flies walking across their eyeballs,” he said.

The President pondered for several seconds before asking, “Cofer, can we really do this?” Black stared back at the President for several seconds for theatric effect and said there wasn’t a doubt in his mind at all. Bush responded with, “That’s what I’m talking about. Go get ’em.”

And in the early days of the war, the successful ones, the CIA, would run the war effort. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seethed over this. He later dragged his feet over any assistance until the military took over the war, pushed thousands of troops into the country in a mission completely opposite of what had worked, and ultimately turned the effort into a “goat rope.”

For an avid reader of all things OSS/SOE from World War II, the mission was a throwback and a fantastic legacy of those who paved the way for the organizations that became the CIA and Special Forces.

The Team

Team Alpha, David Tyson, and Mike Spann (top row far right). Photo courtesy of Toby Harnden

The book centers around “Team Alpha,” an eclectic group of Agency employees who entered Afghanistan on October 17, just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Much of the book centers around CIA agents David Tyson and Mike Spann. They joined Northern Alliance warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who in a SOFREP podcast said the warlord was “straight out of central casting.”

Dostum was known as a thug. A brutal, bloodthirsty type whose own men were terrified of him. But, he was also quite shrewd. He could adapt to situations at the drop of a hat, like anyone who had survived the bloody politics of Afghanistan for so long could.

Tyson was an Uzbek linguist, which was invaluable as he had the ability to communicate easily with the Northern Alliance. The key to taking the country was taking the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. A precursor to the fall of Kandahar, Kabul, and the collapse of the Taliban government that occurred on Nov. 17, 2001.

The CIA/Green Beret team had built a great rapport with Dostum in a very condensed period of time. Much faster than is preached at “Robin Sage,” the SF UW exercise that every SF NCO and Officer must pass. The commander of the A-Team, Captain Mark Nutsch of the 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG), and Tyson built a great relationship of trust with Dostum.

Dostum (white horse) with Northern Alliance fighters and U.S. troops. Photo courtesy of Toby Harnden

The Fortress

Rumsfeld was still trying to convince President Bush that all of the CIA’s efforts were stalled. But once Mazar-I-Sharif fell, he insisted that the war couldn’t be won with just Captains and Sergeants and started sending Colonels and Generals, who Harnden says were not needed nor appreciated. Dostum was told in short order that instead of Nutsch, he’d now deal with Nutsch’s battalion commander LTC Bowers. He, in turn, would be replaced with a two-star, Rear Admiral Bert Calland, the SOCCENT commander.

The Green Berets were pulled out from Team Alpha, and the military was pushing in green troops with no clue as to what was still going on. Before the country was even taken from the Taliban, the Pentagon was focused on stability operations.

Mike Spann and David Tyson find “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh in the throng of al-Qaeda prisoners at Qala-i-Jangi. Photo courtesy of Toby Harnden

During this time, Tyson and Mike Spann headed to the Qala-i-Jangi fortress outside Mazar-i-Sharif to interrogate hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters, who had supposedly surrendered, including U.S. citizen John Walker Lindh. But the al-Qaeda fighters had smuggled weapons, grenades, and suicide vests into the fortress.

They then started a violent uprising while Spann was interviewing a prisoner with dozens around him. As they rushed him, Spann killed numerous al-Qaeda fighters before being hit from behind. The prisoners then overwhelmed Spann before killing him with a pistol. Tyson attempted to get to his friend, but the sheer numbers of prisoners rushing him prevented that, despite the fact that he killed perhaps dozens.

Tyson made it a temporary safe spot in the compound with German journalists. Other American CIA, Green Berets, conventional troops, and a small contingent of British SBS (Special Boat Service, Britain’s equivalent to Navy SEALs) began an effort to rescue Tyson and Spann (who was considered missing) from the fort. The amount of detail and the personal accounts of the men who fought at Qala-i-Jangi is some riveting reading.

The Break Down

Harnden’s book is a fantastic read as he interviewed nearly all of the major players in the early, heady days of the Afghanistan invasion before the Pentagon and State Department turned it into a nation-building sh** show and tried to build a country based on our own model that would never work in Afghanistan.

Dostum, the pivotal warlord who was instrumental in the success, was pushed to the side and quickly ostracized by the government, especially the State Department. Harnden traveled to Afghanistan a year ago to interview the former warlord who was blocked from visiting the U.S.

“I was the one who fought against and defeated the Taliban in 2001,” Dostum said. “My soldiers were killed and wounded, but I was left behind and received nothing. If the Americans had listened to me, they would now have the upper hand on the battlefield and at the negotiation table.”

“I have no issue with CIA,” he says. “They never let me down. But US diplomats have not allowed me to act against the Taliban.”

The Page-Turner

If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the reader in the household or want to spend hours on end curled up in a chair with a great book, then pick up “First Casualty.” It is extremely well-written, meticulously researched, and an absolute page-turner.

It was a story that needed to be told, which is why the CIA was so helpful with Harnden in arranging for nearly all of the involved people to be interviewed. It is a story about personal sacrifice and incredible bravery and resourcefulness. But most of all, it is a story about “what could have been,” but like what occurred in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal, to quote Charlie Wilson, “we f***ed up the end game.”

Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe, Two Special Operations Soldiers To Receive Long Delayed Medal of Honor

SFC Alwyn Cashe Will Finally Recieve The Congressional Medal Of Honor

The Biden administration is expected to award the Medal of Honor to three Army soldiers for valor during the Global War on Terror (GWOT), according to a story by the Washington Post.

The three soldiers, SFC Alwyn Cashe, SFC Christopher Celiz, and MSG Earl Plumlee are expected to be honored at the White House by President Biden. Cashe and Celiz died as a result of wounds that resulted from their selfless actions. They will be represented by family members. Plumlee is expected to attend.

The award for SFC Alwyn Cashe has been considered the one award that has been the longest in coming. On October 17, 2005, Cashe, was on a combat patrol in Samarra, Iraq. As an Alpha Company platoon sergeant from Forward Operating Base (FOB) McKenzie, adjacent to Diyala, SFC Cashe was in the lead Bradley Fighting Vehicle when it struck a roadside Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

The vehicle’s fuel cell ruptured, instantly covering Cashe in fuel. The vehicle came to a stop and immediately erupted in flames. While under intense small arms fire, SFC Cache managed to escape through the gunner’s hatch and assisted the driver out of the vehicle to safety. The flames burning his fuel-soaked uniform quickly spread all over his body.

SFC Alwyn Cashe (right) in Iraq. US Army photo

Despite Horrible Burns, Cashe Insisted That Other Wounded Soldiers Be Evacuated First

Despite his terrible burns Cashe placed the injured driver on the ground and extinguished his burning clothes. He returned to the burning vehicle to retrieve another burning soldier. All the while, he was still on fire. Then he moved to the back of the Bradley to pull more of his soldiers out from the flames inside. In all, Cashe pulled six troops and an Iraqi interpreter to safety.

Sgt. Gary Mills was on fire, his hands so badly burned that he couldn’t open the rear troop door to free himself and other soldiers trapped inside the flaming vehicle. Cashe opened the door from outside. A powerful hand grabbed Mills and yanked him to safety. Within seconds, Cashe ran back to the flames and crawled into the vehicle to haul out the platoon’s critically burned medic.

SFC Cashe kept going back into that vehicle even after his uniform had ignited, and flames had severely burned most of his body. He got all of his soldiers out.

When help arrived from the Forward Operating Base(FOB) about four kilometers away they set up an aid station in a ditch, but a dust storm prevented helicopters from evacuating the men by air; instead, they had to be taken to the FOB by vehicle. Cashe refused help until everyone else had been carried to the medevac, but would not allow himself to be carried by his comrades.

With some help, he walked to the medevac flight.

SFC Cashe Did Not Survive His Injuries

When Cashe arrived at the U.S. Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad Air Base in Iraq, he was still fully conscious. Alisha Turner, then an Air Force medic, was part of the team that treated Cashe and three of his wounded comrades. Cashe, she remembered, was the fourth casualty through the door. He was burned badly. What remained of his uniform was melted to his skin. Turner’s team rushed Cashe into the ER, where he tried to get off the gurney and return to duty. “He just kept saying, ‘I’m good, I’m good, take care of my guys,’ Turner said. “He wanted us to focus on everyone else. It was as if they were his children.”

Cashe died a few weeks later on November 8 at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas. He was 35 years old.

He was immediately awarded a Silver Star but after his Battalion Commander, now LTG Gary Brito learned the details of his heroism, he led the fight to get Cashe’s award upgraded to the Medal of Honor. The fight to get this Silver Star upgraded went up the line all the way to Congress which in November 2020, approved legislation that would pave the way for Cashe’s family to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for him posthumously, and then all progress ground to a halt for 13 months.

Cashe will be the first African-American to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Global War on Terror, and the seventh award of the MOH during the war in Iraq.

Rangers Lead The Way

SFC Celiz was a mortar platoon sergeant in Company D, 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment who was on his fifth deployment during the GWOT.

On July 12, 2018, in the Paktiya province of Afghanistan SFC Celiz and his Rangers were providing security for an incoming MEDEVAC flight that was under heavy fire by Taliban insurgent forces when he was shot. Celiz was then medically evacuated to the nearest medical facility, but there he died of his wounds.

SFC Christopher Celiz, from the 1st Ranger Bn. US Army photo

The Rangers were assisting CIA personnel who were involved in a secret program that was targeting insurgent leaders for capture or being killed. This operation took place in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktiya province in July 2018.

As the medevac helicopter was preparing to take off, Celiz moved from a covered position and placed himself between the Taliban and the helicopter to deliver covering fire. But then he was wounded. Crew members saw him hit and the pilots went back to pick him up.

“My aircraft would have been critically damaged if it weren’t for Chris, and we owed him our lives.” Captain Ben Krzeczowski, the pilot of the medevac said. Although the aircraft was heavily damaged in the battle to evacuate the wounded, the crew flew to a much further medical location in an attempt to save Celiz, but he died of his wounds. The Blackhawk helicopter was so damaged that it never flew again.

MSG Plumlee Single-Handedly Stopped A Taliban Attack

MSG Plumlee was on FOB Ghazni in Afghanistan in August 2013, when the Taliban detonated a 400-lb car bomb outside the compound, which blew a hole in the wall of the base which insurgents then rushed through equipped with weapons, RPGs, and suicide vests.

According to several eyewitness reports, Plumlee nearly single-handedly stopped the Taliban’s attack on the base. One of the Special Forces soldiers present that day, SSG Michael Ollis used his own body to shield a Polish soldier on the base and was himself killed. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

Plumlee raced toward the breach and used a pistol, rifle, and hand grenades to kill three Taliban fighters and wound a fourth, possibly several more.

MSG, then-SFC Earl Plumlee being awarded the Silver Star. US Army photo

“There was another tremendous explosion that knocked both of us back into a wall, and I got hit in the chest right across the buttstock with about three-quarters of a human arm,” Plumlee said in an interview with the Washington Post, describing his and SFC Andrew Busic’s actions as some Taliban members blew themselves up with suicide vests right in front of them.

Plumlee was put in by his commanders for the Medal of Honor but it was immediately downgraded two levels to a Silver Star.

But due to a controversial DOD Inspector General’s report, Plumlee’s actions were once again looked at and it too was finally approved for the MOH. In that report, one redacted member said that since Plumlee was a “leader” and not just “a soldier”, that his actions didn’t warrant the Medal of Honor.

The nation will honor all three men next week, but the timing has not yet been announced.

SOFREP has followed the story of Alywin Cashe and the quest to see him awarded the Medal of Honor since September 2020. You can read that first story, here.

The US Still Has a Lot of Tools to Use in Afghanistan According to the Top Special Operations Officer

Following the chaotic withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in August, the Taliban took over, but the terrorists of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) remain. Although the Taliban steadfastly denied that al-Qaeda was in the country, that statement was not taken seriously. The Taliban and al-Qaeda always had a good relationship.

ISIS is another matter. ISIS and the Taliban are enemies. ISIS believes the Taliban are too concerned with just Afghanistan and not enough with global jihad. And that global jihad is still a concern with the United States. But how will Washington target the terrorists in Afghanistan without any troops or intelligence assets on the ground?

Members of the Pentagon insist that they can continue to track and target terrorists using “over the horizon” capabilities. That method is not only much harder but uncertain as demonstrated when a humanitarian worker was confused with an ISIS planner and targeted. He and several of his family members, including children, were killed in the attack.

The US Still Has a Lot of Tools

ISIS-K fighters pose for a propaganda photo, that was taken by their media arm. (File photo)

SOCOM Commander Army General Richard Clarke speaking at Halifax International Security Forum, in Canada on Friday said that the job of finding and hunting terrorists in Afghanistan has gotten appreciably harder. However, there are still tools in the toolbox, Clarke said.

“We built up amazing counterterrorism capabilities over the last 20 years,” he said. “Some of those capabilities can still be used in Afghanistan today,” General Clarke said.

Clarke advocates working with partner Afghans who remained in the country as well as regional allies. However, Afghans who worked with the U.S. and remained are in grave danger with the Taliban regardless. If they were even suspected of still working with the Americans, their lives would be worth little.

Asked specifically about over-the-horizon strikes, Clarke said, “It’s going to be harder. Anytime you have a physical presence on the ground, it stimulates the enemy forces — you see and sense, you’re with partner forces.”

“It is going to be harder. However … the unique capabilities that we’ve built with airborne unmanned aerial vehicles, presence with Afghan partners, the ability to talk with them and continue to work with allies — it’s going to be what we’re going to continue to do. While hard, we’ve done hard, and we can do hard, and we’re going to continue to persist.”

General Clarke was also asked if a joint U.S.-Taliban partnership fighting ISIS is in the works.

“I don’t see them as a partner — I’ll just be frank,” Clarke replied.

“I think we have an interest from the U.S. perspective that the ISIS threat that is in Afghanistan is disrupted, that it can’t roost [so that it could actually affect one of our nations. But I wouldn’t, as we look at the Taliban, I don’t think they’re an entity, today, that should be … a counterterrorism partner.”

“The most important thing for us in Afghanistan is to ensure we understand the intel picture of where [the] ISIS-K that exists there today actually is, and if it becomes such a threat that it could come back to the United States or could come to one of our allies and partners — we’ve built up capability,” he added. “We can go to where the enemy is. We’ve proven that time and time again with the counterterrorism forces that all of us have built up.”

Jawed Lundin, the former deputy foreign minister of Afghanistan, lambasted the over-the-horizon approach.

“This whole idea of over-the-horizon, surgical strikes, military response to potential threats, we just saw that for 20 years — for God’s sake, it doesn’t work,” Lundin said.

The U.S. needs to be “more clever” and work with locals who can oppose and begin a resistance to the Taliban, as well as some of the other foreign embassies which remain and have the intelligence capability needed, Lundin added.

Violent Extremist Is Still There

A former Afghan commando in combat against the Taliban. SOCOM hopes to utilize them in counter-terrorism operations. (DVIDS)

“The violent extremism that attacked us on 9/11 is still there. We can never forget that,” Clarke said.

“While al-Qaeda was largely decimated in Afghanistan and the ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria was defeated, the threats still exist. In fact, in some ways, it has metastasized. It’s actually harder to track,” the general added.

“What we have to do is work with allies, and particularly indigenous partners from that region, to actually defeat that threat and try to contain it inside their borders, so that it doesn’t, in fact, grow,” he said. “So, we have gone to a more sustainable approach to the counter-VEO approach.”

Clarke added that the best way to defeat terrorism is to use all the available tools and not just the military.

“It doesn’t always have to be the warhead on the forehead to defeat this, but really, it has to be an entire government approach, and it has to be… ensuring allies and those partner nations are capable to [meet] the threat.”

What Will the Future US Strategy in Afghanistan Look Like?

Foreign Policy

The longest war in American history is now officially over. At 11.59 pm local time on August 30, the last American C-17 took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, carrying the last load of U.S. troops.

While it is very hard to reconcile leaving Afghanistan — and for many people, this is both the right and wrong decision — it is the new reality. Adding to the difficulty of that reconciliation is the controversial and frustrating nature of how the withdrawal was handled over the last couple of weeks. Nonetheless, it is done: this long, confusing chapter of American history has come to an end.

So, now, the question is what comes next. It is likely that the Taliban will return to their brutal and strict version of Islamic Sharia law. ISIS-K will also likely continue to grow and move towards its goal of an even stricter and more brutal Islamic caliphate in the region. Other extremist groups will also likely continue to gain a foothold and influence.

Meanwhile, most Afghans will bear the brunt of this future conflict and any suffering that comes from it. Women, girls, and Afghans who helped the West will suffer the most. The new resistance movement that has emerged will likely fight until it cannot keep fighting any longer. Another long, protracted Afghan civil war will break out. Or, a very short, ruthless civil war in which the Taliban crushes the opposition.

A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter door gunner, assigned to TF Wolfpack, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, looking for any sign of trouble while flying through the mountains of Nangarhar province near the Afghan-Pakistan border Feb. 9, 2015. (Photo by Capt. Jarrod Morris, TAAC-E Public Affairs)

Time to End the Dysfunctional and Naive Co-Dependency on Pakistan

By leaving Afghanistan, perhaps the biggest gain for the United States will be the ability to now hold Pakistan accountable for playing both sides over the last 20 years. A huge reason the United States struggled mightily against the Taliban and other extremist forces, is because they simply melted away or found refuge in Pakistan. There is no reason to maintain any more false pretenses. The U.S. no longer has the need to maintain the relationship to benefit from Pakistani ports and roads, either.

One of the best things the Biden administration can do right now is call out Pakistan. It is also time for the U.S. government to finally admit that trying to keep Pakistan as allies had few benefits. The U.S. should create more distance from Pakistan, and instead foster a strong relationship with India.

Holding Pakistan responsible and not giving it any additional economic or military aid, is imperative. Reducing Pakistani interference will be key to any future success in the region. The U.S. must put sanctions in place against Pakistan that will have decisive and severe effects.

The U.S. did not want to take military action against Pakistan when there was a good reason. Now, diplomatic and economic means must be used to impede Pakistan’s ability to play both sides.

The U.S. must stop giving money that ends up in the hands of its adversaries and extremists.

A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier assigned to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan provides security during an advising mission in Afghanistan, April 10, 2014. (Photo by Spc. Sara Wakai/U.S. Army)

Future Military Operations

America’s exit from Afghanistan is certainly not the last we will hear of this beleaguered country, nor of the extremist factions who want to occupy the region. However, by leaving Afghanistan, there are new options that could and will present themselves to the United States. Perhaps now the U.S. will finally be able to take the gloves off in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan could become a covert intelligence or special operations war. Given that a larger, more conventional approach to dealing with Afghanistan did not yield the desired results, it is clearly time to try something else.

Further, there are still Americans and Afghan allies left in Afghanistan. They will need to be rescued. It would not be the first time that U.S. special operations forces conduct raids or rescues in foreign countries, either. Such rescues could set the stage and the pace for future operations, as well.

There will be operational costs and intelligence losses by not having “boots on the ground,” however. Creating new assets and allies will have to be a priority. The U.S. will have to find new methods of gaining information. Hopefully, this will be underway shortly. Even if leaving Afghanistan was the right decision, conducting limited and precise operations is still quite likely. This will not be the end.

Charlie Wilson’s War, Part II

Waging the war in Afghanistan for over 20 years has been very expensive. It is going to be more expensive to have to go back one day. But if things keep escalating and extremist groups gain both a strong foothold, the U.S. will have to go back. In this situation, the similarities between ISIS’s emergence in Iraq and Syria are notable. The fact that the U.S. went back to Iraq as a result, should not be ignored.

Funding the resistance to the Taliban will be a cheaper option in the long run. It could possibly yield better results than funding the Afghan National Army, did. At the least, everyone knows the resistance will fight.

The terrorist and extremist groups in Afghanistan must be targeted, militarily and economically. We have to make it painful for them, in every way possible. Perhaps, the better way will be through funding the resistance.

Creating and funding an insurgency against the insurgency just might be the most brilliant thing that can be done. Part of the U.S. counterinsurgency mission was to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. While there is merit to that, part of the problem is that the U.S. and NATO allies were still always seen as foreigners and outsiders in the country. Allowing the Afghans to learn how to win the hearts and minds of their own people, and instill them with courage would be a true victory.

U.S. special operations forces, members of Task Force Dagger, and Afghanistan Commander Abdul Rashid Dostum on horseback in the Dari-a-Souf Valley, Afghanistan, in October 2001. (Photo by Master Sgt. Chris Spence/U.S. Army)

A New Chapter

Al-Qaeda, ISIS-K, and other extremist groups will most certainly once again find haven, training, and support in Afghanistan. The Taliban cannot be trusted to limit these groups to any real degree any more than before. Now that the Taliban are back in power, al-Qaeda and other groups will probably expect sanctuary. Some groups, like ISIS-K, will likely try to take over the country; that will be worse.

The time to re-engage in Afghanistan is now. As more and more time passes by, extremists will become increasingly entrenched, and progress will be difficult. Atrocities will continue, and opportunities will pass. Right now, the Taliban are spread thin. Other groups are planning their next move. Therefore, the U.S. should immediately put things in motion.

Perhaps now it’s our turn to play the insurgent.