#DUPE# (2019): Season 1, Episode 6 - From Communism to Terrorism - full transcript
Miller: In 1989, the world was
in a great shifting of powers.
Tomsen: In afghanistan,
the afghan mujahideen,
Supported by the united states,
Defeated the soviet army.
Baker: The wall came down
and we did not anticipate
The total implosion
of the soviet union.
Narrator: In 1989, the
collapse of the iron curtain
Coupled with the soviet
withdrawal from afghanistan
Signaled the decline
of communism and the
Waning days of the cold war.
Soufan: Those mujahideen who
went to afghanistan realized
'wow! We did not only
defeat the soviets who
invaded afghanistan,
We destroyed the soviet empire.'
Narrator: But the devastation
left behind stoked a new
global conflict.
A conflict the us
was not prepared for.
Soufan: We said, okay
mission accomplished, see
you later, you sort it out.
Petraeus: Gradually
extremism grows and grows.
Narrator: Today the west
is constantly engaged with
Violent factions
around the world.
Aggression that events
30 years ago helped fuel.
Soufan: What we did back
in 1989 in afghanistan,
Resulted in what we saw in
downtown manhattan on 9/11.
Narrator: And no one knows
when this war will end.
Petraeus: This is not
a fight that we're going
to win in a decade
Much less in a few years.
The threat of islamic
extremists is generational.
(theme music plays).
Soldier: White
truck, 3:00 johnson.
We're gonna push it, we're
gonna push it out of the way.
(explosion).
Get out! Get out! Get out!
Narrator: For many years now
the war on terror has raged.
Soldier: But he's ok.
Soldier: Fine.
Not a scratch on him,
lucky son-of-a-gun.
Narrator: But the enemy
isn't an evil empire
or a rogue state.
This is a fight against
islamic extremists,
A complex group of combatants
With a collective goal of
changing the world order.
Jennings: The u.S. Military
suffered one of the worst
Battlefield tragedies
in several years.
Reporter (over tv): Three u.S.
Helicopters were shot down
By rocket-propelled grenades.
Clinton: Early this morning,
bombs exploded outside
Two of our american
embassies in africa.
Curry: The navy is losing hope
of finding anymore survivors
From Thursday's attack
on the u.S.S. Cole.
Couric: We have a breaking
news story to tell you about.
Apparently a plane has
just crashed into the
world trade center.
Narrator: Less than a month
after 9/11, the united states
And its allies
responded with force.
The military action would
begin in afghanistan,
Soldier: Re-load it!
Narrator: The place where
many of the seeds of the
9/11 attack had been planted.
Not in 2001, but in 1989.
Tomsen: My official title
was 'special envoy to
the afghan resistance.'
That gave me responsibility
for working with the
Afghan mujahideen,
and also with pakistan.
1989 was a key turning point
in the war against terror.
Narrator: A decade before
1989, the soviets were
looking to preserve
A communist government in
afghanistan, and protect
Their interests in the
country from western nations.
Tomsen: On christmas eve, 1979,
That's when the soviets
invaded afghanistan.
Narrator: The invasion set
the stage for one of the final
showdowns of the cold war,
When the pentagon threw its
support behind the opposition,
A coalition of muslim fighters
known as the mujahideen.
Tomsen: The cia
and the pakistani
intelligence organization,
Known by the acronym isi,
had an enormous covert
weapons program.
It amounted to about
$200 million to help the
afghan mujahideen defeat
The communist regime.
Baker: The world as I
had known it changed
beginning in 1989.
We had been supporting
the mujahideen along with
our allies saudi arabia,
To the point of supplying them
with surface to air missiles,
Some of which came back
to bite us later on
When they fell into the
hands of the taliban.
Tomsen: The cia didn't they
look at the big picture.
They did not have
a geo-strategic
long-term vision.
In northern pakistan the isi
established an infrastructure
of thousands of mosques, and
Training camps for recruits
to cross the border and
take on the soviet army.
Man: They wanted to
make us communist, thank
god we are muslims.
We are following god's
path, we do not want
communism in afghanistan.
Narrator: The mujahideen
would outlast the red army.
In 1989, the soviets withdrew.
It was a win for the afghans
and seemingly the us.
Tomsen: Milt bearden was the
cia station chief in pakistan.
He sent back a cable
to washington declaring
in big letters 'we won.'
And it was a big victory,
Distributing the weapons
to the mujahideen groups
and defeating the soviets.
Narrator: But with the
russians out of the picture,
Afghanistan became
fertile ground for chaos.
Soufan: In 1989, after
the soviet withdrawal
from afghanistan,
We had a significant
moment that shaped
The modern islamic
extremist movement today.
You start having rebellions
all over the eastern bloc.
Even the berlin wall fell.
Death of communism.
That was an indication
that there is a new
geopolitical reality.
Those mujahideen who went
to afghanistan realized
'wow! We did not only
defeat the soviets who
invaded afghanistan,
We destroyed the soviet empire.'
Baker: It was a positive
thing for the united states
when the soviets had to
Give up their adventure
in afghanistan,
But it maybe should have
also been a lesson to us
About going in there when we
did and the aftermath of 9/11.
Soufan: I think after
the soviet withdrawal
from afghanistan,
We made a strategic mistake
as the united states.
We said 'ok, mission
accomplished, see you
later, you sort it out.'
We did not get involved
to assist and help
The afghani people
figure out their future.
We turned our back on them.
So you have so many different
factions among the mujahideen,
And now they don't
have a common cause,
And they don't have a sense of
direction where they are going,
So they start fighting
with each other.
Narrator: That lawlessness
that followed russia's
departure would have
Profound consequences.
Some of the well-armed
mujahideen, including
Those who traveled
to afghanistan to
enlist in the fight
Decided to join a new radical
group called al-qaeda.
But back then the us didn't
think of terrorist groups
as existential threats,
True enemies were thought
to be nation-states.
Soufan: A lot of people
didn't pay attention to them.
The intelligence
community ignored them,
because they thought,
'those are our allies!
Those mujahideen worked with
us to defeat the soviets!'
Unfortunately, in their
mind, they had something
else totally going.
So they start planning,
they start conspiring,
They start forming
a covert network,
Not only in the united
states but also in other
places around the world.
Osama bin laden by
now is in sudan.
He's funding all
these networks.
Tomsen: Know thy enemy.
In 1989 we did not
know our enemy.
I knew
nothing about osama bin laden,
I knew nothing about al-qaeda.
I thought that history was
going in the right direction.
So I had no idea about what
would eventually unravel.
Soufan: We start looking into
their network, after the first
world trade center bombing.
Reporter (over tv): In new
york city beneath the twin
towers of the world trade
Center, a massive explosion in
an underground parking garage.
Investigators are looking
into the possibility
that it was a bomb.
Narrator: The world trade
center bombing in 1993
put the us on notice.
Extremists in the middle east
were angry about the foreign
presence in their region and
They were taking the
fight to american soil.
The 1993 bombers, who had
ties to the mujahideen
were convicted.
But another mujahideen
leader was on the rise
and under the radar.
Reporter: He
lives in a cave atop a range
of mountains in afghanistan.
From there he controls a
web of financial, logistical
and strategic assistance
To sunni islamic groups,
engaged in what they consider
a jihad, or a holy war.
His name is osama bin
laden, the most dangerous
man you've never heard of.
Miller: Bin laden had fallen
in love with his own image.
He was in business
to be at war.
At abc news at the time we
had developed some information
that bin laden was likely to
Be charged, federal charges,
arranging, sponsoring,
supporting the bombing
Of the world trade center, that
killed 6 and injured hundreds.
Ironic now.
That was a very
interesting story.
It sounded like the kind
of thing that we needed
to sound a warning about.
Because in 1998 you could
have stopped 100 people
on the street and said,
"hey! What do you think
of osama bin laden?"
And 100 of them would
have said, "I don't
know who that is."
Interviewing osama bin laden,
I knew going in that
this was going to be a
dangerous assignment.
But if bin laden was going
to that much trouble to get
us there to talk to us,
He probably had something to
say that he wanted to get out.
Bin laden: We believe that
the biggest thieves in
the world are americans,
And the biggest terrorists
on earth are the americans.
The only way for us
to fend off these assaults
is by using similar means.
We do not differentiate
between those dressed
in military uniforms and
Civilians, they're all
targets in this fatwa.
Narrator: Saudi-born
bin laden wanted the us
out of the middle east
And threatened more violence
if his demands were not met.
Bin laden: You will leave
when the bodies of american
soldiers and civilians are
Sent in the wooden
boxes and coffins.
Miller: Bin laden had his
own agenda, 'I declare
war on the united states.
This will be bigger than
our war with the russians.
I predict a black day
for america, after which
nothing will be the same.'
Well that sounded...
It sounded ridiculous.
It may be easy to make such
threats, a man on a hilltop
backed by a few hundred
Mujahideen soldiers declaring
war on the united states.
But it's not a conventional
war that he's threatening.
Bin laden is talking
about terrorism.
It was a guy on top a mountain
with a network of caves,
And a couple of trucks and,
you know, maybe 12 of 1300 men.
How was he going to declare
war on a superpower a million
miles away across an ocean?
9/11 just wasn't in
our frame of reference.
(screaming, crying).
He attacked the united states
of america on a single day
at multiple locations,
Taking 3000 lives, using plane
tickets and box cutters.
We hadn't thought our
way through that when
he first declared war.
Narrator: After 9/11, the
connections became clear.
The first world trade
center bombing in 1993.
The black hawk
choppers shot down in
mogadishu, also in '93.
The embassies in '98.
And the uss cole in 2000.
America was facing an
intensifying threat,
One from growing hate-filled
terrorist networks whose
history reached back to
The soviet withdrawal
from afghanistan in 1989.
Petraeus: The 9/11 attacks
crystallized everything.
This establishes clearly,
the new threat to the united
states and indeed to the
Western world and our
partners in the gulf as well.
And gradually extremism
grows and grows as a true
significant security threat.
Bush: Good afternoon.
On my orders, the united
states military has begun
strikes against al-qaeda
Terrorist training camps and
military installations of the
taliban regime in afghanistan.
Petraeus: We went to
afghanistan because that's
where the 9/11 attacks were
Planned, that's where
the initial training of
the attackers was conducted
When osama bin laden
had a sanctuary in
eastern afghanistan,
Under the rule of the
taliban at that time.
Narrator: But it wasn't
the first time the us went
after osama bin laden.
It had tried three
years earlier.
Clinton: Today I ordered
our armed forces to strike
At the network of radical
groups affiliated with and
Funded by osama bin laden.
Petraeus: We actually
launched cruise missiles into
afghanistan trying to kill
Osama bin laden but
missed him unfortunately
by several hours.
Narrator: After September
11th, the hope was that
he would be found in the
American invasion
in afghanistan.
But for years bin
laden evaded justice.
He remained hidden in the
sanctuaries on the border
of afghanistan and pakistan.
Then, on may 1, 2011,
president barack obama
authorized a covert mission.
Petraeus: Needless to say
there were concerns about
whether the pakistanis
Would support this
operation, might impede it.
This was so important that the
decision was made obviously
To go ahead without
alerting them.
Reporter (over tv): After
all this waiting, all this
heartache, all this search,
All this failure, the
united states government
Is now convinced that it has
the body of osama bin laden.
Obama: Tonight, I can
report to the american
people and to the world,
That the united states has
conducted an operation that
killed osama bin laden,
The leader of al-qaeda.
Crowd: U-s-a, u-s-a!
Narrator: Bin laden's
death closed a dark
chapter in world history.
But islamic extremism
and terrorism
Would continue,
even without him.
Petraeus: I think it's
very important to take out
islamist extremist leaders,
But you can't think that
taking out leaders is
going to take out the rest.
You also have to go after
the body of the snake.
Narrator: The cold war has
been replaced with a war
on terror, and ironically,
The americans have replaced
the soviets in the country
they once occupied.
Bush: Our war on
terror is only begun.
Obama: Here, in afghanistan,
more than half a million of
our sons and daughters
Have sacrificed to
protect our country.
Trump: Our troops
will fight to win.
We will fight to win.
Baker: Some people have
argued that the fall of
communism led to the spread
Of islamic fundamentalism
in afghanistan.
The west became the
enemy, and here we are
today, we're still there.
Narrator: The united states
has been waging a war in
afghanistan now for nearly
18 years, with seemingly
no end in sight.
In the middle east and across
the world, conflict continues.
So how does america resolve
this struggle against an
enemy with no defined borders?
Petraeus: The paradox of this
fight, is that you cannot
defeat islamist extremists.
You can't counter these
kinds of terrorists with
Just counter terrorist
force operations alone.
You can't just delta force
raid or drone strike your
way out of this problem.
Soufan: Terror is a
symptom of something.
So, I think what you need
to do is you need to go down
to the root of the problem.
There's so many different
incubating factors that
feeds into the threat matrix.
Tomsen: The worst
case scenario is that
we keep making mistakes,
And we don't follow
wise policies.
And this militant islamism
continues to advance, not
only in afghanistan,
Which it's doing today,
we're still losing ground
in afghanistan,
But in other countries where
this ideology spreads,
Like communism spread.
Soufan: The new
generation of extremists
are so numb to humanity
In any way, shape or form.
They present themselves
as people who are really
fighting to protect islam.
They have monopoly over the
real religion even though
95% of their victims
are muslims.
Petraeus: Al-qaeda first
under bin laden, then of
course under his successor,
Were concerned about
the levels of extremist
activity, of the barbarity.
And al-qaeda essentially
excommunicated
the islamic state.
Isis went its own way and
really became a competitor.
Soufan: Most of the
people that go and fight
with isis and al-qaeda,
You know, have an
identity issue, have
an assimilation issue.
From ideological perspective,
these guys are totally now
Just brainwashed
to hate and to kill.
Petraeus: I think it's very
easy to be frustrated with
the progress in afghanistan,
Frustrated with the growth
of the islamic state.
But it is what it is,
And I think at the end
of the day you stop
answering whether you
Are an optimist or a
pessimist, and you just
say you are a realist.
Baker: Idealism
versus realism.
Idealism will
always inform america's
foreign policy positions,
But you cannot practice
foreign policy according
To the principles
of mother teresa.
It's a sad thing for me
to say, but it's true.
You have to have a strong
national interest if you're
gonna sustain a policy.
Petraeus: The threat
of islamist extremists
is generational.
This is not a fight that
we're going to win in a decade,
Much less a few years.
It's impossible to give
a prediction of how much
longer it will take
Until we can completely
withdraw from afghanistan.
And in fact, I'm not
sure I would advocate
complete withdrawal.
It's all encompassing,
because you have to help
Re-establish local governance,
You have to pursue
reconstruction, schools,
Hospitals, clinics,
local economies.
It's easy to say
let's just give it up,
let's be isolationists,
Let's retreat to
fortress america,
Let these other countries
deal with these situations,
But we've seen when we have
tried to do that the result
Is greater instability,
greater extremism, and
Attacks against the
united states and our
allies in western europe.
Reporter (over tv): Breaking
news out of london, a deadly
terror attack overnight.
Reporter (over tv):
A deadly blast outside of
an ariana grande concert.
Girl: Oh my god!
Reporter (over tv): It is
the deadliest terror attack
in France in decades,
Unfolding in a horrific
few minutes in the
downtown streets of paris.
Miller: The war on terror
isn't ever gonna be won by
the police or government.
The war is gonna be won
by fixing the problem that
leads you to the battle.
Soufan: Some of the policies,
some of the rhetoric that
you hear from politicians,
Actually feeds into the
playbook of osama bin laden.
So we have to be very careful
by not telling the muslims
'you're either with
us, or against us,'
because they are us.
Petraeus: The whole world is
going to have to combine to
defeat islamist extremism.
Reporter (over tv): They
came in their thousands,
standing together in unity,
In the face of an attack
designed to divide.
Petraeus: For us this
is a major security
threat to be sure.
But for muslim countries, this
is an existential struggle
For the heart of
the islamic world.
Captioned by cotter
captioning services.
in a great shifting of powers.
Tomsen: In afghanistan,
the afghan mujahideen,
Supported by the united states,
Defeated the soviet army.
Baker: The wall came down
and we did not anticipate
The total implosion
of the soviet union.
Narrator: In 1989, the
collapse of the iron curtain
Coupled with the soviet
withdrawal from afghanistan
Signaled the decline
of communism and the
Waning days of the cold war.
Soufan: Those mujahideen who
went to afghanistan realized
'wow! We did not only
defeat the soviets who
invaded afghanistan,
We destroyed the soviet empire.'
Narrator: But the devastation
left behind stoked a new
global conflict.
A conflict the us
was not prepared for.
Soufan: We said, okay
mission accomplished, see
you later, you sort it out.
Petraeus: Gradually
extremism grows and grows.
Narrator: Today the west
is constantly engaged with
Violent factions
around the world.
Aggression that events
30 years ago helped fuel.
Soufan: What we did back
in 1989 in afghanistan,
Resulted in what we saw in
downtown manhattan on 9/11.
Narrator: And no one knows
when this war will end.
Petraeus: This is not
a fight that we're going
to win in a decade
Much less in a few years.
The threat of islamic
extremists is generational.
(theme music plays).
Soldier: White
truck, 3:00 johnson.
We're gonna push it, we're
gonna push it out of the way.
(explosion).
Get out! Get out! Get out!
Narrator: For many years now
the war on terror has raged.
Soldier: But he's ok.
Soldier: Fine.
Not a scratch on him,
lucky son-of-a-gun.
Narrator: But the enemy
isn't an evil empire
or a rogue state.
This is a fight against
islamic extremists,
A complex group of combatants
With a collective goal of
changing the world order.
Jennings: The u.S. Military
suffered one of the worst
Battlefield tragedies
in several years.
Reporter (over tv): Three u.S.
Helicopters were shot down
By rocket-propelled grenades.
Clinton: Early this morning,
bombs exploded outside
Two of our american
embassies in africa.
Curry: The navy is losing hope
of finding anymore survivors
From Thursday's attack
on the u.S.S. Cole.
Couric: We have a breaking
news story to tell you about.
Apparently a plane has
just crashed into the
world trade center.
Narrator: Less than a month
after 9/11, the united states
And its allies
responded with force.
The military action would
begin in afghanistan,
Soldier: Re-load it!
Narrator: The place where
many of the seeds of the
9/11 attack had been planted.
Not in 2001, but in 1989.
Tomsen: My official title
was 'special envoy to
the afghan resistance.'
That gave me responsibility
for working with the
Afghan mujahideen,
and also with pakistan.
1989 was a key turning point
in the war against terror.
Narrator: A decade before
1989, the soviets were
looking to preserve
A communist government in
afghanistan, and protect
Their interests in the
country from western nations.
Tomsen: On christmas eve, 1979,
That's when the soviets
invaded afghanistan.
Narrator: The invasion set
the stage for one of the final
showdowns of the cold war,
When the pentagon threw its
support behind the opposition,
A coalition of muslim fighters
known as the mujahideen.
Tomsen: The cia
and the pakistani
intelligence organization,
Known by the acronym isi,
had an enormous covert
weapons program.
It amounted to about
$200 million to help the
afghan mujahideen defeat
The communist regime.
Baker: The world as I
had known it changed
beginning in 1989.
We had been supporting
the mujahideen along with
our allies saudi arabia,
To the point of supplying them
with surface to air missiles,
Some of which came back
to bite us later on
When they fell into the
hands of the taliban.
Tomsen: The cia didn't they
look at the big picture.
They did not have
a geo-strategic
long-term vision.
In northern pakistan the isi
established an infrastructure
of thousands of mosques, and
Training camps for recruits
to cross the border and
take on the soviet army.
Man: They wanted to
make us communist, thank
god we are muslims.
We are following god's
path, we do not want
communism in afghanistan.
Narrator: The mujahideen
would outlast the red army.
In 1989, the soviets withdrew.
It was a win for the afghans
and seemingly the us.
Tomsen: Milt bearden was the
cia station chief in pakistan.
He sent back a cable
to washington declaring
in big letters 'we won.'
And it was a big victory,
Distributing the weapons
to the mujahideen groups
and defeating the soviets.
Narrator: But with the
russians out of the picture,
Afghanistan became
fertile ground for chaos.
Soufan: In 1989, after
the soviet withdrawal
from afghanistan,
We had a significant
moment that shaped
The modern islamic
extremist movement today.
You start having rebellions
all over the eastern bloc.
Even the berlin wall fell.
Death of communism.
That was an indication
that there is a new
geopolitical reality.
Those mujahideen who went
to afghanistan realized
'wow! We did not only
defeat the soviets who
invaded afghanistan,
We destroyed the soviet empire.'
Baker: It was a positive
thing for the united states
when the soviets had to
Give up their adventure
in afghanistan,
But it maybe should have
also been a lesson to us
About going in there when we
did and the aftermath of 9/11.
Soufan: I think after
the soviet withdrawal
from afghanistan,
We made a strategic mistake
as the united states.
We said 'ok, mission
accomplished, see you
later, you sort it out.'
We did not get involved
to assist and help
The afghani people
figure out their future.
We turned our back on them.
So you have so many different
factions among the mujahideen,
And now they don't
have a common cause,
And they don't have a sense of
direction where they are going,
So they start fighting
with each other.
Narrator: That lawlessness
that followed russia's
departure would have
Profound consequences.
Some of the well-armed
mujahideen, including
Those who traveled
to afghanistan to
enlist in the fight
Decided to join a new radical
group called al-qaeda.
But back then the us didn't
think of terrorist groups
as existential threats,
True enemies were thought
to be nation-states.
Soufan: A lot of people
didn't pay attention to them.
The intelligence
community ignored them,
because they thought,
'those are our allies!
Those mujahideen worked with
us to defeat the soviets!'
Unfortunately, in their
mind, they had something
else totally going.
So they start planning,
they start conspiring,
They start forming
a covert network,
Not only in the united
states but also in other
places around the world.
Osama bin laden by
now is in sudan.
He's funding all
these networks.
Tomsen: Know thy enemy.
In 1989 we did not
know our enemy.
I knew
nothing about osama bin laden,
I knew nothing about al-qaeda.
I thought that history was
going in the right direction.
So I had no idea about what
would eventually unravel.
Soufan: We start looking into
their network, after the first
world trade center bombing.
Reporter (over tv): In new
york city beneath the twin
towers of the world trade
Center, a massive explosion in
an underground parking garage.
Investigators are looking
into the possibility
that it was a bomb.
Narrator: The world trade
center bombing in 1993
put the us on notice.
Extremists in the middle east
were angry about the foreign
presence in their region and
They were taking the
fight to american soil.
The 1993 bombers, who had
ties to the mujahideen
were convicted.
But another mujahideen
leader was on the rise
and under the radar.
Reporter: He
lives in a cave atop a range
of mountains in afghanistan.
From there he controls a
web of financial, logistical
and strategic assistance
To sunni islamic groups,
engaged in what they consider
a jihad, or a holy war.
His name is osama bin
laden, the most dangerous
man you've never heard of.
Miller: Bin laden had fallen
in love with his own image.
He was in business
to be at war.
At abc news at the time we
had developed some information
that bin laden was likely to
Be charged, federal charges,
arranging, sponsoring,
supporting the bombing
Of the world trade center, that
killed 6 and injured hundreds.
Ironic now.
That was a very
interesting story.
It sounded like the kind
of thing that we needed
to sound a warning about.
Because in 1998 you could
have stopped 100 people
on the street and said,
"hey! What do you think
of osama bin laden?"
And 100 of them would
have said, "I don't
know who that is."
Interviewing osama bin laden,
I knew going in that
this was going to be a
dangerous assignment.
But if bin laden was going
to that much trouble to get
us there to talk to us,
He probably had something to
say that he wanted to get out.
Bin laden: We believe that
the biggest thieves in
the world are americans,
And the biggest terrorists
on earth are the americans.
The only way for us
to fend off these assaults
is by using similar means.
We do not differentiate
between those dressed
in military uniforms and
Civilians, they're all
targets in this fatwa.
Narrator: Saudi-born
bin laden wanted the us
out of the middle east
And threatened more violence
if his demands were not met.
Bin laden: You will leave
when the bodies of american
soldiers and civilians are
Sent in the wooden
boxes and coffins.
Miller: Bin laden had his
own agenda, 'I declare
war on the united states.
This will be bigger than
our war with the russians.
I predict a black day
for america, after which
nothing will be the same.'
Well that sounded...
It sounded ridiculous.
It may be easy to make such
threats, a man on a hilltop
backed by a few hundred
Mujahideen soldiers declaring
war on the united states.
But it's not a conventional
war that he's threatening.
Bin laden is talking
about terrorism.
It was a guy on top a mountain
with a network of caves,
And a couple of trucks and,
you know, maybe 12 of 1300 men.
How was he going to declare
war on a superpower a million
miles away across an ocean?
9/11 just wasn't in
our frame of reference.
(screaming, crying).
He attacked the united states
of america on a single day
at multiple locations,
Taking 3000 lives, using plane
tickets and box cutters.
We hadn't thought our
way through that when
he first declared war.
Narrator: After 9/11, the
connections became clear.
The first world trade
center bombing in 1993.
The black hawk
choppers shot down in
mogadishu, also in '93.
The embassies in '98.
And the uss cole in 2000.
America was facing an
intensifying threat,
One from growing hate-filled
terrorist networks whose
history reached back to
The soviet withdrawal
from afghanistan in 1989.
Petraeus: The 9/11 attacks
crystallized everything.
This establishes clearly,
the new threat to the united
states and indeed to the
Western world and our
partners in the gulf as well.
And gradually extremism
grows and grows as a true
significant security threat.
Bush: Good afternoon.
On my orders, the united
states military has begun
strikes against al-qaeda
Terrorist training camps and
military installations of the
taliban regime in afghanistan.
Petraeus: We went to
afghanistan because that's
where the 9/11 attacks were
Planned, that's where
the initial training of
the attackers was conducted
When osama bin laden
had a sanctuary in
eastern afghanistan,
Under the rule of the
taliban at that time.
Narrator: But it wasn't
the first time the us went
after osama bin laden.
It had tried three
years earlier.
Clinton: Today I ordered
our armed forces to strike
At the network of radical
groups affiliated with and
Funded by osama bin laden.
Petraeus: We actually
launched cruise missiles into
afghanistan trying to kill
Osama bin laden but
missed him unfortunately
by several hours.
Narrator: After September
11th, the hope was that
he would be found in the
American invasion
in afghanistan.
But for years bin
laden evaded justice.
He remained hidden in the
sanctuaries on the border
of afghanistan and pakistan.
Then, on may 1, 2011,
president barack obama
authorized a covert mission.
Petraeus: Needless to say
there were concerns about
whether the pakistanis
Would support this
operation, might impede it.
This was so important that the
decision was made obviously
To go ahead without
alerting them.
Reporter (over tv): After
all this waiting, all this
heartache, all this search,
All this failure, the
united states government
Is now convinced that it has
the body of osama bin laden.
Obama: Tonight, I can
report to the american
people and to the world,
That the united states has
conducted an operation that
killed osama bin laden,
The leader of al-qaeda.
Crowd: U-s-a, u-s-a!
Narrator: Bin laden's
death closed a dark
chapter in world history.
But islamic extremism
and terrorism
Would continue,
even without him.
Petraeus: I think it's
very important to take out
islamist extremist leaders,
But you can't think that
taking out leaders is
going to take out the rest.
You also have to go after
the body of the snake.
Narrator: The cold war has
been replaced with a war
on terror, and ironically,
The americans have replaced
the soviets in the country
they once occupied.
Bush: Our war on
terror is only begun.
Obama: Here, in afghanistan,
more than half a million of
our sons and daughters
Have sacrificed to
protect our country.
Trump: Our troops
will fight to win.
We will fight to win.
Baker: Some people have
argued that the fall of
communism led to the spread
Of islamic fundamentalism
in afghanistan.
The west became the
enemy, and here we are
today, we're still there.
Narrator: The united states
has been waging a war in
afghanistan now for nearly
18 years, with seemingly
no end in sight.
In the middle east and across
the world, conflict continues.
So how does america resolve
this struggle against an
enemy with no defined borders?
Petraeus: The paradox of this
fight, is that you cannot
defeat islamist extremists.
You can't counter these
kinds of terrorists with
Just counter terrorist
force operations alone.
You can't just delta force
raid or drone strike your
way out of this problem.
Soufan: Terror is a
symptom of something.
So, I think what you need
to do is you need to go down
to the root of the problem.
There's so many different
incubating factors that
feeds into the threat matrix.
Tomsen: The worst
case scenario is that
we keep making mistakes,
And we don't follow
wise policies.
And this militant islamism
continues to advance, not
only in afghanistan,
Which it's doing today,
we're still losing ground
in afghanistan,
But in other countries where
this ideology spreads,
Like communism spread.
Soufan: The new
generation of extremists
are so numb to humanity
In any way, shape or form.
They present themselves
as people who are really
fighting to protect islam.
They have monopoly over the
real religion even though
95% of their victims
are muslims.
Petraeus: Al-qaeda first
under bin laden, then of
course under his successor,
Were concerned about
the levels of extremist
activity, of the barbarity.
And al-qaeda essentially
excommunicated
the islamic state.
Isis went its own way and
really became a competitor.
Soufan: Most of the
people that go and fight
with isis and al-qaeda,
You know, have an
identity issue, have
an assimilation issue.
From ideological perspective,
these guys are totally now
Just brainwashed
to hate and to kill.
Petraeus: I think it's very
easy to be frustrated with
the progress in afghanistan,
Frustrated with the growth
of the islamic state.
But it is what it is,
And I think at the end
of the day you stop
answering whether you
Are an optimist or a
pessimist, and you just
say you are a realist.
Baker: Idealism
versus realism.
Idealism will
always inform america's
foreign policy positions,
But you cannot practice
foreign policy according
To the principles
of mother teresa.
It's a sad thing for me
to say, but it's true.
You have to have a strong
national interest if you're
gonna sustain a policy.
Petraeus: The threat
of islamist extremists
is generational.
This is not a fight that
we're going to win in a decade,
Much less a few years.
It's impossible to give
a prediction of how much
longer it will take
Until we can completely
withdraw from afghanistan.
And in fact, I'm not
sure I would advocate
complete withdrawal.
It's all encompassing,
because you have to help
Re-establish local governance,
You have to pursue
reconstruction, schools,
Hospitals, clinics,
local economies.
It's easy to say
let's just give it up,
let's be isolationists,
Let's retreat to
fortress america,
Let these other countries
deal with these situations,
But we've seen when we have
tried to do that the result
Is greater instability,
greater extremism, and
Attacks against the
united states and our
allies in western europe.
Reporter (over tv): Breaking
news out of london, a deadly
terror attack overnight.
Reporter (over tv):
A deadly blast outside of
an ariana grande concert.
Girl: Oh my god!
Reporter (over tv): It is
the deadliest terror attack
in France in decades,
Unfolding in a horrific
few minutes in the
downtown streets of paris.
Miller: The war on terror
isn't ever gonna be won by
the police or government.
The war is gonna be won
by fixing the problem that
leads you to the battle.
Soufan: Some of the policies,
some of the rhetoric that
you hear from politicians,
Actually feeds into the
playbook of osama bin laden.
So we have to be very careful
by not telling the muslims
'you're either with
us, or against us,'
because they are us.
Petraeus: The whole world is
going to have to combine to
defeat islamist extremism.
Reporter (over tv): They
came in their thousands,
standing together in unity,
In the face of an attack
designed to divide.
Petraeus: For us this
is a major security
threat to be sure.
But for muslim countries, this
is an existential struggle
For the heart of
the islamic world.
Captioned by cotter
captioning services.