Lone Survivor_ The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ( PDFDrive )

sent for us.
In the weeks before our arrival, there had been widespread incidents of
violence, confirming everyone’s dread that the generally hated Taliban was once
more on the rise and a serious threat to the new government of Afghanistan.
Even with the support of thirty thousand U.S. and NATO troops, President
Hamid Karzai struggled to control the country anywhere outside of Kabul.
A few weeks earlier, in February, the Taliban flatly announced they were
increasing their attacks on the government as soon as the weather improved. And
from then on they launched a series of drive-by shootings and bombings, usually
directed at local officials and pro-government clergy. In the south and over to the
east, they started ambushing American soldiers.
It’s a strange word, Taliban. Everyone’s heard it, like insurgent, Sunni,
ayatollah, or Taiwan. But what does Taliban really stand for? I’ve suffered with
them, what you might describe as close encounters of the most god-awful type.
And I’ve done a lot of reading. The facts fit the reality. Those guys are evil,
murderous religious fanatics, each one of them with an AK-47 and a bloodlust.
You can trust me on that one.
The Taliban have been in prominence since 1994. Their original leader was a
village clergyman named Mullah Mohammad Omar, a tough guy who lost his
right eye fighting the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. By the
mid-’90s, the Taliban’s prime targets in Afghanistan — before I showed up —
were the feuding warlords who (a) formed the mujahideen and (b) threw the
Soviets out of the country.
The Taliban made two major promises which they would carry out once in
power: to restore peace and security, and to enforce sharia, or Islamic law.
Afghans, weary of the mujahideens’ excesses and infighting, welcomed the
Taliban, which enjoyed much early success, stamping out corruption, curbing
lawlessness, and making the roads safe for commerce to flourish. This applied to
all areas that came under their control.
They began their operation in the southwestern city of Kandahar and moved
quickly into other parts of the country. They captured the province of Herat,
which borders Iran, in September 1995. And one year later, their armies took the
Afghan capital of Kabul, overthrowing the regime of President Burhanuddin
Rabbani and his defense minister, Ahmed Shah Massoud. By 1998, they were in
control of almost 90 percent of the country.
Once in power, however, the Taliban showed their true colors. They set up
one of the most authoritarian administrations on earth, one that tolerated no