About this episode

Gary Berntsen discusses his experiences as a CIA operations officer during the post-9/11 military campaign in Afghanistan.

Former CIA operations officer and leader of the Jawbreaker team during the early Afghanistan war. Gary shares firsthand accounts of post-9/11 operations, the hunt for bin Laden at Tora Bora, and the unprecedented CIA-led military campaign. They discuss missed opportunities, Pakistani duplicity, and the complex Afghan resistance. The conversation concludes with sharp criticism of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Gary calls America's greatest military failure, and a call for Americans to honor the sacrifices made in defense of freedom. Check out Gary’s book “Jawbreaker”. 00:00:00 CIA Operative Promises "Flies on Their Eyeballs" in 6 Weeks - and Delivers 00:00:36 Inside Jawbreaker: The Secret CIA Team That Started the Afghan War 00:07:46 Invasion or Liberation? The Truth About What Really Happened on the Ground 00:11:07 Tora Bora Tactics: Hunting Bin Laden With 60 Men and $4 Million in Cash 00:15:33 Six Teams, Six Ethnic Groups: How the CIA Weaponized Afghan Tribal Alliances 00:19:05 Sleeping in the Room Where Al-Qaeda Assassinated the Lion of Panjshir 00:29:34 Why Rumsfeld's 6-Month Plan Was Killed in One Sentence 00:38:38 Stopping the Next 9/11: The Secret Singapore…

People in this episode

Host: Lara Logan

Guest: Gary Berntsen

Topics covered

• CIA operations
• 9/11
• Afghanistan war
• bin Laden
• military strategy
• U.S. withdrawal
• Pakistani duplicity

Keywords

• CIA
• 9/11
• bin Laden
• Afghanistan
• military failure
• Jawbreaker
• Tora Bora
• Pakistani duplicity
• U.S. withdrawal
• Al-Qaeda

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah

Books & works: Jawbreaker

Places: Afghanistan, Pakistan

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