Retrograde

I'm speaking to you today from the Treaty Room of the White House,

a place where American presidents have worked for peace.

We're a peaceful nation.

Yet as we have learned so suddenly and so tragically,

there can be no peace in a world of sudden terror.

The name of today's military operation is Enduring Freedom.

We defend not only our precious freedoms

but also the freedom of people everywhere

to live and raise their children free from fear.

My fellow Americans, we've traveled through more than a decade

under the dark cloud of war.

Yet here in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan,

we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.

In every generation we have faced down evil,

and we have always prevailed.

But our commitment is not unlimited.

How many more generations of America's daughters and sons

would you have me send to fight Afghanistan's civil war?

I'm clear on my answer.

I will not repeat the mistakes we've made in the past.

Hey!

Hey, hey!

Only American passports.

Don't waste your energy.

Back up.

Hey.

I said back up.

I said back up.

Go back.

Get back, brothers.

For God's sake, get back.

I swear to God I have a green card.

Okay. Okay.

Move away.

Hey!

Dad?

Javed?

Javed?

Hey, hey.

It's two decades of investment

and we're trying to identify who the key Afghan leaders are.

We wanna position them for the long term...

so that we can keep what we've started here going.

These guys have... They have our DNA, right.

They just... They have adopted it now and they have that worst period,

that motivation that... That's, uh...

Just gut instinct that they can get it done.

When you sit down with General Sadat, you can see it.

We're the only ones out here right now. It's only us.

You, being co-located with him,

you have a sense of what the real need is.

When General Sadat is asking for something,

we could sense his stress levels.

We're in this together.

That's the reality. We got to recognize it.

Brothers, at ease.

Sir, yes sir.

Brothers, at ease.

Sir, yes sir.

Sir.

Stand at ease.

In the name of God.

Greetings freedom fighters, friends, and fellow soldiers.

I'm standing with you every step of the way.

With love, patience, and appreciation for each other

you can succeed.

You will never be left alone.

Never feel mercy for the Taliban terrorists.

Don't let them advance.

Don't let them advance under any circumstances.

Fight them hard.

Don't return until you've killed the very last Talib.

Look left, look right, look up and down.

Do you see any force that would be able to stand up to you?

No.

Friends, are you ready?

Yes.

I grew up in the '90s in Kabul.

My father was in the resistance.

He was ultimately arrested and put in jail by the Taliban.

My father's imprisonment made me think that I will never get my father back.

Everyone that was imprisoned has disappeared

or was hanged by the Taliban.

But I saw my father coming with his army into Kabul,

and they liberated the whole city.

I still feel that joy in my heart.

That gives me motivation to move forward.

It takes years, months,

the whole of my life, it doesn't really matter.

This is the kind of faith I cling onto.

- Good morning. - Hi, sir. Good morning, sir.

General, have you met, uh, Charlie?

So, big news, huh? You're a two-star general now.

- Yeah. - I mean, that's huge news.

I was thinking about it last night, how...

how freaking amazing it is for you to be in your position.

And just like, "Hey, you're doing such a good job. Here's some more territory."

It's a lot of responsibility.

Yeah. Are you gonna be okay with that?

- Wait. - I don't have a choice.

You don't have a choice, do you? Yeah.

What can I do, you know?

- My guys are dying every day. - Oh, yeah. Everyday matters.

Two nights ago, ten ANA soldiers were killed

- by one sniper man in Khash Rod. - Hmm.

Ten ANA soldiers.

You said that was a primarily a sniper there?

- Yeah. - That...

Yeah, there was no other explosion, no shrapnels.

- Sniper shots. - Hmm.

We need time before we're ready to stage large scale attacks on the Taliban.

In a couple days we'll know

if the administration really wants to leave Afghanistan.

Don't expect the decision to be one day...

- Okay. - ...a switch is flipped, but...

hopefully it'll be the first step in that direction.

We're looking forward to more clarity as much as you are.

True. True. True.

The main purpose, right? The main reason why we are here

is to increase your survivability and lethality on the battlefield.

Today we will focus on marksmanship and sniper training.

Twenty-six fifty.

Twenty-six forty-one.

Yeah, go ahead.

The war in Afghanistan is known by several other names,

America's Longest War, The Forever War,

and The Endless War.

We just go high and tight up top,

put the tourniquet where it is or close to it.

See?

President Biden now faces a difficult decision,

stick to a deal brokered by his predecessor

to withdraw all troops by May first or extend the conflict once again.

Just let me know if anything turns violent.

Confirm Taliban coming out of those compounds.

Did you shoot me? Bam, bam?

- No, no, no. - No, he said freeze.

I didn't freeze.

That's why I shot you.

- You didn't stop. - Oh, you shot me? Okay.

- Yeah. - I didn't hear.

Even if you're a civilian, good guy, not carrying weapon,

if I tell you freeze and you didn't stop, we will shoot you

or a warning shot, you know.

Warning shot's a good tool.

Okay.

That's your choice, all right? Depending on the situation what to do.

You don't instantly have to kill me.

That's one reason that this war

has gone on for so long.

Innocent men who died in 2000, 2005,

their sons are now of age to be joining the Taliban.

So we always have to be incredibly sure that we only shoot the right guys

because last thing we wanna do is create more people who hate us

and wanna kill us ten years from now when they're old enough.

Hey, how's it going?

Yeah, we still wanna know

how many people were on that second bird that crashed.

It crashed in a relatively desolate portion of Washer.

Sir, the Taliban are posting that they shot it down.

Could be nothing.

But right now, there's guys chattering on the radio,

like, all excited that they shot down the helicopters.

- Hey, sir, can you hear us? - Yes.

We're picking up radio chatter that the Taliban said they shot it down,

but, you know, of course they would claim that.

I think we might have casualties as well,

- KIAs. - Yeah. Okay.

Hopefully not.

Okay. The KIAs identity is confirmed. He's one of my guards from KKA.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Taliban motherfucker.

This Al-Qaeda motherfucker.

Is that a wound on the nose or head?

Commander, his whole body is damaged.

Meaning the blood is coming from his nose, not his brain?

That, we can't tell yet.

They said they can transfer four casualties,

but we need to transfer six.

No, they will transfer six people. There is no issue.

I think we have six,

so the doctor is recommending six for medical evacuation.

All right.

I mean we tasked up for four.

Um, I think... I think that four is what our little clinic on our little base,

that's what they can handle.

And then they're gonna medevac from there.

All right.

Once we transfer, can we transfer two more?

Hey, brother, I'm at the hospital. Your colleagues are here.

The initial request are for four injuries to be medically evacuated

and now we have six.

Can you approve two more, brother?

I think they're all head injuries.

Okay. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Cheers.

It's all set.

Okay.

- I'll let you guys do the work. - Okay. All right. On it.

- I just came here to thank you... - We'll start making...

- We'll make our phone calls that we need. - ...for everything. It's a hard day