Afghanistan with Roh Yakobi

Milton Bearden was the CIA officer tasked by Director William Casey in 1986 with using $1 billion and Stinger missiles to help drive Soviet forces out of Afghanistan, one of the most consequential covert operations of the Cold War.In this first part of a remarkable conversation, Bearden takes us inside the secret machinery of Operation Cyclone. He recounts how Washington shifted from simply "bleeding" the Soviets to pursuing outright victory, how the covert war was run through Pakistan's ISI, and how weapons and money were distributed among the fractious Mujahideen factions, none of them, by his own admission, above reproach.He describes training fighters in makeshift conditions in Rawalpindi: a white sheet, an infrared light, and a $200 room that outperformed the US Army's billion-dollar facility at Fort Bliss. He recounts the September 1986 Stinger strike outside Jalalabad that changed the course of the war overnight, and speaks candidly about his dealings with General Akhtar, a tense face-to-face with Hekmatyar, and the direct back-channel contacts with commanders that bypassed ISI oversight entirely.Bearden also reflects on corruption among commanders, the deliberate exclusion of the Hazaras, the Saudi dollar-for-dollar funding match that doubled the war chest, and why he believes the only measure that ever truly mattered was whether the Soviets left.They did. On February 15, 1989, General Boris Gromov crossed the Friendship Bridge and the war was won.A rare, unfiltered account from the man who helped run one of the most consequential covert operations of the Cold War.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Team Alpha member Justin Sapp recounts his role in the clandestine CIA mission that landed behind Taliban lines immediately after 9/11. He describes working alongside General Dostum and later travelling to Bamiyan to meet Karim Khalili and help organise forces to retake the region.Justin details witnessing the aftermath of Taliban savagery against Hazara communities. After Team Alpha, he served multiple deployments in other theatres, and through personal stories and reflections looks back on how an early military success evolved into a far longer and more complicated conflict than anyone expected.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

Mark Urban is a British journalist, broadcaster, and best-selling author of many books, including War in Afghanistan and The Skripal Files. He has covered Afghanistan extensively since the late 1980s, witnessing firsthand the withdrawal of Soviet forces, accompanying Ahmad Shah Massoud as he took Kabul in 1992, and other key events. In this interview, he shares his stories of the country and his thoughts on its future, as well the impacts of the West's failure.📺 Watch on YouTube.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Team Alpha member Justin Sapp recounts his role in the clandestine CIA mission that landed behind Taliban lines immediately after 9/11. He describes working alongside General Dostum and later travelling to Bamiyan to meet Karim Khalili and help organise forces to retake the region.Justin details witnessing the aftermath of Taliban savagery against Hazara communities. After Team Alpha, he served multiple deployments in other theatres, and through personal stories and reflections looks back on how an early military success evolved into a far longer and more complicated conflict than anyone expected.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Team Alpha member Justin Sapp recounts his role in the clandestine CIA mission that landed behind Taliban lines immediately after 9/11. He describes working alongside General Dostum and later travelling to Bamiyan to meet Karim Khalili and help organise forces to retake the region. Justin details witnessing the aftermath of Taliban savagery against Hazara communities. After Team Alpha, he served multiple deployments in other theatres, and through personal stories and reflections looks back on how an early military success evolved into a far longer and more complicated conflict than anyone expected.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

Tom Tugendhat is a British Member of Parliament and former Security Minister who served multiple tours in Afghanistan in various civilian and military capacities.In this exclusive interview, Tom speaks with unusual bluntness about the war’s outcome, rejecting euphemism and insisting that the West was decisively defeated. He argues that this was not the product of inevitability or fate, but of political choices, strategic incoherence, and a failure to take responsibility for loss. Alongside this analysis, he tells personal stories of people he served with and encountered in Afghanistan, explaining why he remains deeply fond of them and why their courage, loyalty, and sacrifice continue to matter to him. He also steps back to offer a broader strategic reading of the present moment, warning that Afghanistan reshaped how the world now judges Western resolve, credibility, and seriousness — with consequences that reach far beyond the country itself.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

Charlie Gammell is a former British diplomat, author and historian who has worked extensively in Afghanistan and Iran. Speaking fluent Farsi and Pashto, with Herati and Khosti accents, Charlie reflects on his time in Afghanistan, how he fell in love with Herat and its history, and why he wrote 'The Pearl of Khorasan: A History of Herat'.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

James Cowan has seen Afghanistan at its most intense: the frozen, “medieval” Kabul he first stepped into after the Taliban’s fall in 2001, the brutal peak of the NATO campaign in Helmand, and the country’s stunning collapse two decades later. He later took on a very different mission as head of the Halo Trust, working to clear the country of the deadly remnants of its wars. In this interview, he retraces that journey — from fighting the Taliban on the front lines to now negotiating with them so his teams can clear landmines and save lives. With rare candour, he reflects on the war, its cost, and the stark realities facing Afghanistan today.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

In this profoundly personal and powerful interview, the UK's Minister for the Armed Forces, Al Carns MP, tells his story of Afghanistan from the eyes of a soldier who fought there. Al recounts his first tour as a 26-year-old commando in the hellish frontline of Helmand, from the dust of Camp Bastion and countless relentless gun battles in different parts of the country. He shares harrowing near-death experiences and the heavy responsibility of leading men in combat, offering a raw reflection on war, camaraderie, and the complex relationship soldiers form with a country of breathtaking beauty and brutal conflict. We discuss the mission's intent, the progress he witnessed, the painful 2021 collapse, and his unique perspective on whether it was all "worth it," and why Afghanistan is a place that "captures a bit of your soul."👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi