Major Joshua Mast

They pushed through the objective, they achieved their mission. It's honestly heroic stuff. But I guess they actually got a little bit of flack for bringing her back because they're like, what are you doing, right? But when they explained the situation, like they got authorized to pull her off objective and she gets out. And so we didn't know a lot of the details until years later.

But at the time, at the operational headquarters level, we were getting like indications of warnings like, hey, trust us, this is really bad. And so that was one of the reasons why we're digging into from a SJ's perspective of like, what happened here? This sounds bad. And in trying to inform decision makers to make a better decision of a safer outcome.

But at the time, at the operational headquarters level, we were getting like indications of warnings like, hey, trust us, this is really bad. And so that was one of the reasons why we're digging into from a SJ's perspective of like, what happened here? This sounds bad. And in trying to inform decision makers to make a better decision of a safer outcome.

But at the time, at the operational headquarters level, we were getting like indications of warnings like, hey, trust us, this is really bad. And so that was one of the reasons why we're digging into from a SJ's perspective of like, what happened here? This sounds bad. And in trying to inform decision makers to make a better decision of a safer outcome.

But I actually did a lot of research at the time with this specific Al Qaeda group, like Where do they come from? What are they about? What do we know about them? And there's a lot of open source out there. Bill Roggio with the Long War Journal with the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, he has a lot of articles about this specific group.

But I actually did a lot of research at the time with this specific Al Qaeda group, like Where do they come from? What are they about? What do we know about them? And there's a lot of open source out there. Bill Roggio with the Long War Journal with the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, he has a lot of articles about this specific group.

But I actually did a lot of research at the time with this specific Al Qaeda group, like Where do they come from? What are they about? What do we know about them? And there's a lot of open source out there. Bill Roggio with the Long War Journal with the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, he has a lot of articles about this specific group.

And what was so interesting is, as time went on, is there started to be – like this incident happened on September 6th, right? And I told you the president had canceled the peace deal. then there were some more reports about these Turkestani foreign fighters in Afghanistan to the point where the Taliban in early December formally said that those reports are false.

And what was so interesting is, as time went on, is there started to be – like this incident happened on September 6th, right? And I told you the president had canceled the peace deal. then there were some more reports about these Turkestani foreign fighters in Afghanistan to the point where the Taliban in early December formally said that those reports are false.

And what was so interesting is, as time went on, is there started to be – like this incident happened on September 6th, right? And I told you the president had canceled the peace deal. then there were some more reports about these Turkestani foreign fighters in Afghanistan to the point where the Taliban in early December formally said that those reports are false.

They're like, there are no Turkestani foreign mujahideen in Afghanistan. So they specifically disclaimed this group that she was living proof was operating in Afghanistan in December of 2019. So all that in the backdrop of trying to get them back to the negotiating table and trying to get the peace deal back on track,

They're like, there are no Turkestani foreign mujahideen in Afghanistan. So they specifically disclaimed this group that she was living proof was operating in Afghanistan in December of 2019. So all that in the backdrop of trying to get them back to the negotiating table and trying to get the peace deal back on track,

They're like, there are no Turkestani foreign mujahideen in Afghanistan. So they specifically disclaimed this group that she was living proof was operating in Afghanistan in December of 2019. So all that in the backdrop of trying to get them back to the negotiating table and trying to get the peace deal back on track,

That's a strategic – this child's existence, this group's existence in Afghanistan at that time was proof that the Taliban were not abiding with their commitment to not let al-Qaeda operate out of Afghanistan. I think we all know that now. Like I've seen so many shows with Sarah Adams and others, experts talking about al-Qaeda running free in Afghanistan.

That's a strategic – this child's existence, this group's existence in Afghanistan at that time was proof that the Taliban were not abiding with their commitment to not let al-Qaeda operate out of Afghanistan. I think we all know that now. Like I've seen so many shows with Sarah Adams and others, experts talking about al-Qaeda running free in Afghanistan.

That's a strategic – this child's existence, this group's existence in Afghanistan at that time was proof that the Taliban were not abiding with their commitment to not let al-Qaeda operate out of Afghanistan. I think we all know that now. Like I've seen so many shows with Sarah Adams and others, experts talking about al-Qaeda running free in Afghanistan.

But I think there's a lot of evidence they never stopped.

But I think there's a lot of evidence they never stopped.

But I think there's a lot of evidence they never stopped.

Yeah, I think they said six weeks to two months, like somewhere in there.