Operation Allies Welcome
Twenty years of evacuation and the chaos that followed
4.4 (34)
34 mins
Learn about the interagency frictions, warlord rivalries, and rapid Taliban collapse amid CIA cash drops and B-52 bombings. Learn how early successes sowed post-war fragility, echoed in 2021's chaotic Operation Allies Welcome evacuation processing 10,000+ Afghans amid vetting challenges.
Ep 1:
The Promise and the Warlords
From Special Forces on horseback to feuding U.S. agencies, discover how a bold 2001 promise to Afghanistan collided with bureaucratic infighting from the very start.
Ep 2:
Fractured Allies, Rising Shadows
Behind the Northern Alliance's victory lay bitter rivalries and hidden fractures—while a new terror group, ISIS-K, quietly rose to exploit the chaos to come.
Ep 3:
Welcome, Vetting, and the World
As Kabul fell in 2021, soldiers raced to fulfill a promise while a broken vetting system and a global coalition scrambled to process thousands under fire.
Ep 4:
Jalalabad's Hunt and the Reckoning
A tense 2001 hunt for bin Laden in Jalalabad's mountains echoes into 2021, as one evacuee's tragic story forces a reckoning with America's complicated legacy.
Discussions (11)
Aubrey
Level 3 · 8 mo agoThe vetting issues were real. My husband said it was total chaos. That DC shooting story is accurate and it is just tragic for everyone involved.
Graham
Level 2 · 8 mo agoYeh I don't buy the vetting success story. You can't screen thousands in weeks with no digital footprint. It wasn't just complex it was a total security shambles waiting to happen.
Gavin
Level 9 · 8 mo agoWe rushed vetting and let a guy with an expired visa shoot two soldiers. It’s exactly what happens when you ignore common sense for good optics.
