Frustrated by much of the reporting (or lack thereof) on U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan, Wall Street Journal journalist Jessica Donati set out to tell this story herself in a new book titled "Eagle Down." With the Department of Defense preventing embeds and the Pentagon spin insisting that there were no longer Green Berets in combat, Donati found her own way on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Recently, she took a few minutes to answer some questions for Connecting Vets about the missions that Special Forces continue to conduct in Afghanistan and how she was able to tell their story.
JM: The first thing I want to ask -- and this seems be tothe premise of your new book "Eagle Down" -- twenty years after the invasion and beginning of the Global War on Terror what exactly are U.S. Special Forces still doing in Afghanistan?
JD: This is exactly the premise of the book. In 2015, the Obama administration pulled most U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and claimed to have brought the war to a responsible conclusion." A curtain drew over U.S. military operations to support this claim, even though, as things got worse, U.S. SOF played a bigger and bigger role in keeping the country from collapse.
I found it frustrating as a journalist in Afghanistan to know the U.S. continued to have a critical role in the war, and have virtually no access to U.S. troops. In earlier years of the war, journalists could embed with soldiers pretty much anywhere. Just think of documentaries like Restrepo." You cant tell these stories without being there, and it seemed to me we were missing a big piece of the picture.
The US military continued to claim it was no longer in combat, even when soldiers were wounded and killed on the battlefield. As one senior SF officer told me later, we laughed at the idea we were not in combat.
The only way to piece together what was going on and it was far from ideal was from the Afghan side.
The Afghans were telling us that U.S. SOF were going in alongside Afghan commandos and other local forces, helping them recapture villages and cities from the Taliban. And it became clear that U.S. SOF were evolving into a sort of fire-fighting force, putting out fires all across the country, to keep towns and cities from falling to the Taliban. Meanwhile, all these operations were being kept secret to make it look like the Afghan government was holding its own.During the course of researching the book, I also found that U.S. SOF were also doing missions to kill or capture Taliban commanders, fight Islamic State, and so on.
I understand the need to keep some U.S. SOF operations secret, but when you turn ODAs into frontline troops or a strike force, then there should be some sort of public discourse about what theyre being asked to do. Especially when its clearly a short-sighted strategy. The Afghan government is becoming more corrupt, more authoritarian and more fractured over time instead of improving.
Now obviously, this has changed in the past year. As a result of the U.S.-Taliban deal, the Taliban have held off attacks on major cities and towns (with the notable exception of Lashkar Gah last year, which drew in yet another U.S. intervention to stop the city from falling). But if the U.S. cancels the withdrawal, as seems likely, we could see U.S. SOF go back to the firefighting model.
JM: In the book you mention that most embedded journalists with Special Operations tend to be Washington D.C. based as opposed to foreign correspondents like yourself because they find reporters like you are more often critical of the war. How did you go about gaining access to sensitive combat operations and personnel in Afghanistan?
JD: Yes and even then, it was literally like one or two journalists per year, in really restricted circumstances. Those journalists have built up their careers working closely with SOF leadership, which is fine, but theres another side to the story.
When I was in Afghanistan, we found the best way to figure out what the Americans were doing was to talk to the Afghans working with them. We had a good relationship with the Afghan Ministry of Defense, and would regularly get permission from the Afghan side to embed with Afghan commandos or whatever force was in the area we wanted to report on.
The only problem with Afghan embeds was getting there, because they didnt have the resources to fly out to these places and the Americans wouldnt take us, so we often ended up just driving to bases out in the middle of nowhere, or taking a commercial flight to the closest airport, and then driving the rest of the way with a local fixer.
The other problem with Afghan embeds of course was being female. Usually, Afghan soldiers wouldnt have seen a woman for a very long time, so I was quite a spectacle, even though of course I wore a headscarf and local clothes, including an all-covering abaya. Its also worth mentioning such flowing garb was not ideal for patrols in Humvees or on foot, but I figured it was better than drawing attention to myself.
JM: If the Hollywood image of U.S. Special Forces from 2001 is a handsome Australian actor riding a horse into combat, what is that image of our soldiers in Afghanistan today?
JD: I think most Americans would be like we have soldiers in Afghanistan? Which is the result of a deliberate effort by U.S. leaders to stop talking about the war so they dont have to fix it or make a decision there.
And then I think if you told them oh there are Special Forces they will probably still think of a handsome Australian actor riding a horse into combat.
JM: From the perspective of the troops on the ground, be they a 22-year old NCO or a grizzled Special Forces Team Sergeant or Team Leader, through what lens to they view the war? What do they see as their objectives in the country?
JD: I think most of them focus on seeing the war through the narrow lens of their mission to train and advise Afghan forces, work with the commandos. Especially when theyre out there on missions. They see it as their jobs to help improve the Afghan commandos and make their lives better for the six-months that theyre in the country or whatever.
Ive talked to team sergeants that have been going back and fighting in the same places over and over again, and they are philosophical about it like were here to help the commandos and the bigger picture is up to the higher ups.
I think its probably a different story outside the job, when troops have a chance to reflect on the bigger picture and see how it all fits together. And then you start to hear guys talk about feeling like SOF are being used as a political pawn to put out fires in Afghanistan to make it look like policy in Washington D.C. is working.
JM: What was your impression of the Afghan military and paramilitary units? Did you assess them as prepared to stand on their own against the Taliban after U.S. withdrawal?
JD: I think there was a big variation among the Afghan soldiers that we saw. Village militias were often scary to us, because you had a feeling they could be on either side depending on the weather. The commandos, hit and miss, we met some incredibly impressive Afghan commandos, who were brave, smart and had been fighting forever.
What I always tried to remember when hearing that Afghan commandos or other local forces were lacking the will to fight, was that they were stuck there. Its not like they could get through a couple of tours and then they go back to a nice life in America. This was their lot an incredibly dangerous job, corrupt leadership, little prospect of promotion, almost non-existent healthcare, and little compensation for their families if they get killed. So, its not surprising that morale is very low, and these guys are generally out to ensure they can survive as long as possible.
I think that without a doubt, if the U.S. were to leave, there would be a very significant and relatively competent fighting force on the Afghan side that would stand on their own. Perhaps not for the Kabul government and Ghani, but for whoever they viewed as their leader. Especially the Tajiks and Hazaras, and many Tajiks especially make up the commandos, youre not going to see them just cave to the Taliban.
So, you might go from 350,000 Afghan forces on the payroll to like 20,000, maybe 50,000 who knows, but you will still have a significant force, which is why most people predict that a US departure would lead to a horrible civil war rather than the Taliban just rolling into Kabul.
JM: Based on your reporting, what do you see as America's end game in Afghanistan and is that even on the horizon?
Americas endgame has evolved over the years, from taking out Al Qaeda to building this great Western-style democracy. At least now, the US has stopped talking about staying until the Afghan government is ready to stand alone. The new goal seems to be to stay until the Afghans have a peace agreement. At least, thats what the Biden administration seems prepared to do stay to do counterterrorism i.e. more of the same, and help support the Afghan peace process.
There is some argument that no U.S. leader wants to be the one to give up, concede defeat and then possibly be responsible for some terrible Al Qaeda attack at some point in future. Apart from Trump, who could have cared less about how things played out in Afghanistan. But then, he had the national security establishment telling him it was too dangerous to leave and it could lead to an attack on U.S. soil. And even he didnt succeed in getting all troops out by the end of his term.
With the peace talks underway in Doha, theres a better chance than ever before, I suppose, that there could be an endgame in Afghanistan. Obviously, progress is slow and the rhetoric from the Taliban side isnt particularly encouraging. Theyre talking about having defeated the Americans and negotiating the terms of their victory. But then, the US side has also gone around claiming that Western values will be upheld in Afghanistan and so on.
As long as the peace talks continue and both sides are at least talking to one another, then I guess you could say there is hope, even if it is slight.
Eagle Down: The Last Special Forces fighting the forever war by Jessica Donati is available now.
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Eagle Down: The Last Special Forces Fighting The Forever War - Connecting Vets