in the heartrt of talibaban cou and brining g them h home. -the taliban is ruling accccordg to their conceception of islamicic law -- the most l literal, fundamenentalist cononception ththat you canan possibly y im. -t-the talibanan regime was ruththless. therere wasn't a anything that thehey wouldn't't do. -therere were eighght individus arrerested in afafghanistan. all eight from shelter now internationanal. -under islslamic law, , the cre for prproselytizining was dea. after we were arrested, they walalked us into this compound, and when they opened the door, there, s standing in front o of us, were abobout 35 to 40 afghghan women.. and d that was t the first t e i brbroke down a and cried.. -in n 2001, i was the e cia statioion chif in islamabadad, pakistanan, where i had responsibility for all intelligence-gathering operations in both pakistan and afghanistan. in a august of 2 2001, wewe first gotot word that thesese eight indndividua, including twtwo young amameric, had been a arrested by talibiban securitity in kab. the u.s. e embassy prprocured thehe assistancne of a pakisistani lawyeyer, and d he's dealing with ththe legal authorities inside afghanistan. but this was not an intelligence matter for us at that poinint. soso, gatherining informatatn coconcerning t these arresess was not high in o our prioritity list. inin fact, it t was basicacay off f the bottomom. -the cell l was a concrete room with a concrete floor. the e room was v very dirty - chipipped paint.t. i woululd write in my journal. i'd be sitting in the cold with a blanket. "o"oh, lord jejesus, i strtrue soso much withth fear here. every moment of every day, i i battle witith the fearr that either a taliban or an angry terrororist wiwill kill meme." -thehe taliban actuallyly had serioious evidee against these e people. in fact, t they had d broken taliban law. it seemed pretty clear that they were guilty. -this s stuff is indicatingg that they wewere indeedd proselelytizing inin afghanist. -afterer we were a arrested, it basicalally began t three ws of intnterrogationons. they wouldld bring inn talibaban officersrs. they would drill us with questions for 10 hours at a time. one daday, they c came in witith whips and ththey were gogonna whip s thatat day to geget informata, but there e was an a afghan talilib officerr who stepped in and intervened. ththere were a almost two class of talibiban -- the leaders of the regime, who were the face of evil, and then there were those who were obliged to follow the regime. -last sunday, their trial started in kabul. ththe charge - -- attemptitino coconvert muslslims to chrhrist. a a guilty vererdict couldld rt in lightht punishmenent -- deportatation -- as s heavy as the deaeath penaltyty. -we werere actually y brought to the s supreme couourt on s september 8 8th of 2001. and there e were hundrdreds of j journaliststs. and ththat was thehe first tie we knenew anybodyy out in t the world really k knew or reaeally car. -it t was a hugege internatitl ououtcry from m around thehe w. -if theyey brought us before the suprpreme court t and sai, "look, we have given your people a legitimate trial, and we have brought evidence against them, and we have found them guilty," no one would be able to say anything about the punishment. fear just really took over. it was a very scary time. and then, all of a sudden, everything changed. -we have unconfirmed reports this morning thatat a plane h has crashed intoto one of ththe towers of the w world tradede cente. -9/11 chchanged all l the rul. -i-i've directcted the e full resouources ofof our intelligence and law-enenforcement t communis to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. -we knew bin ladaden and d al qaeda w were behindn. -and afghanistan was the paramount safe havenen for bibin laden anand al qaed. -the uniteted states o of amera makes s the followowing demans on t the talibanan -- deliver r to united d states authoritieies all the leleaders of a al qaea who hidede in your l land. -when we l looked at t the taln after r 9/11 and a afghanista, we g gave them choices. we said, "you can n join inin the fight against al qaed, or if you decide to stick with al qaeda and bin laden, we would consider you enemies, and we're gonna come with lethal force. -so, a at the sameme time that we're demanding all ththese other r things, you knowow, he's's not gonnana forget about ththese two amamerican. -relelease all f foreign natati, inclcluding amererican citizis yoyou have unjnjustly imprpris. -youou're gonna a do all thee otheher things, , and by thehe, you're g gonna turn n over ththese foreigigners, as w w. -either you're with us, or y you are witith the terrrro. -the talaliban rerejected ourur overturess to tururn over binin laden anand to breakak away fromom al. taliliban leaderership hahad that opppportunity.. but they rejected it. -and therefore, these people went from being detainees to hostages. that's the way we were thinking about it now. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ -a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the world trade center. -9/11 changed all the rules. -you arere with us,, or you arere with the e terrori. -thehese people e went fromm being g detainees s to hostag. ththat's the w way we w were thinkiking about i i. -doesn't m matter. you'rere a member r of our tri. you u may be stutupid, but y ye a member o of our tribibe. we gotot to help y you. -o-on septembeber 11th, my parenents came toto the pri. we had a a 30-minutete supervrvised visitit. and they l left the prprison, went to ththe u.n. gueuest hou, and watctched on thehe televisn as the second plane crashed into the world trade center. they were evacuated the next day onon the very last flight out of the couountry. and knew that they had left their daughter in the lion's den. -t-the hardestst thing iss that i i'm not thehere with h. and d if i couldld get backk to kababul, i woululd go. -on the e night of septembmber 17th..... ththe taliban n came to ouour n anand took ourur entire shelter r now team..... to a another pririson considid a a high-secururity prisonn that belong to the intelligence department of the taliban. it wasas a concretete cell withth a concretete floor, bars on n the windowow. i had d scorpions s crawling in my bebed covers.. i had paparasites. you knknow, there e was just a lot ofof ailmentss thatat came fromom the filth in thehe prison. and they moved us there in order to basically keep us as political prisoners. now, we knknew we don'n't negogotiate withth terrorist. i meanan, we undererstood ththose protococols. anand to be hohonest, we didn't t have the e expectan that anynybody wouldld come and get usus. -on my o orders, the uniteded states mimilitay has begugun strikess againsnst the al q qaeda teterrorist trtraining camas and d military i installatios of the t taliban regegime in a afghanistanan. -the w war on terrrror starte. it was o october 7thth when we d ththe first bobomb fall. and ththen the bomombs just started d falling rerepetitive. -t-they knew t there was a a w. they c could hear r the aircrt flyingng overhead.d. i think ththey had a s sense thatat they werere just smalalls caught upp in a m much largerer undertaki. once thahat attack s starts, the e taliban mumust be saying to o themselveses, "l"look, if wewe release these pepeople, it's notot gonna dodo us any gogood." so, , now it wasas gonna be a matteter of eitheher you try y to bribe t them out in some e way oror you go inin militarili, and d you get ththem out. -jsoc c is known as t the joint special l operationsns comman, which is a an accumulalation f the top spspecial opereration u. -when 9/9/11 happenened, guysys wanted atat it so bada, they w were dreamiming it before thehey even knenew whatat the dreamam was about. all l they wanteted to d do was go r right the w w. and d one of thehe first hard missisions that c came dn was onone that wasas referrrred to as a angry talo. whwhich was to get intnto afghanisistan in the heaeart of taliliban cou, and rescueue eight hosostages and bring g them home.e. -aftfter 9/11, i i was the c cor of cia fororces respononsible fofor the intetelligence c colln and covertrt action in afghaninistan. evenen in the mimiddle of thth, deployining teams, engagingng in lethalal force, beginnnning the fifirst ararmed drone e strikes, we never f forgot about the e hostages.. in fact,t, they remained a a priority.y. -"lord, i beg that you would spring open this door and let us go free. my heart hurts so much. i feel like i'm barely hanging on." -we did geget into conontact wiwith an indidividual who o had a natutural reason to go inin and out o of the pri. and d so, we begegan to s satellite p phone to him to comommunicate i in real tie with hisis cia case e officer back in n pakistan,, which we h hoped, ultitimatel, might helplp us to supupport a a military r raid to freree . -b-a-a-a-z. -thehere are manany motivatits that dririve a foreieign natiol to coopeperate with h the ci. therere's money,y, there's i id, perhaps s compromisese, ego, revenenge, coercicion, ev. ththe best souources, the bebest collaboborators, hoh, arare doing itit becaususe they're e decent peo, and d they want t to do ththe right ththing, and d that transnscends cultlt. -we're c collecting g informatn througugh afghan s sources. wewe needed toto know evereryg we p possibly cocould know about ththe prison.. -when you u start plananning a a hostage-rerescue operarat, it is ababsolutely i imperatie ththat you getet as many of the d details as s possibl, becaususe the difffference in life anand death can be a a fraction n of a sec. -there i is no end t to the del that thehey need ifif they're g gonna launcnh a succesessful raid.d. -we e knew when n we got to that prprison that w we were gononna have a t ofof resistancnce on our h ha. there werere a ton of fortifified talibanan posits within a and all aroround ththat prison.n. -a-and so, if f they knoww that t there is a a staircase that leads from the ground floor up to the floor whwhere the wowomen are bebeing, he n needs to knknow how w many stairirs there ar. he needs t to know hohow high thehe risers ara. you've g got to haveve the abiy to s stay flexibible and know when y you need to deviatete left or r right or just cocompletely pull bacack and flanank. the soururce told usus where they were e being heldl, hohow they werere being hehe, how mamany guards s there wer, where the e guards werere, wherere their weweapons were, whatat their daiaily routines werere like. -our cononfidence in this s one sourcece grew as wewe learned m more ande and babasically coconfirmed his repoporting. -whehen we reheaearse a misssn lilike this, o obviously,, you u want to mamake it as realiststic as possssible. -and so,o, at that p point, they b built a mocock-up ofof the prisoson, anand they statarted exercrcig toto get thesese people ouo. -t-the head ofof the jsocc liaison n team came e to me and hehe said, "whwhen we tra, wewe never givive ourselvevs this m much informrmation." he said,d, "i thinkk we canan get them m out." you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ bold. daring. expressive. contra costa college allows me to be whoever and whatever i want to be, providing the stage, the canvas, the tools to use my voice and write my story. find your passion and create your future at contra costa college. start today at contracosta.edu -as the days went on, not knowing if we would survive at contra costa college. eventuallyly just tookok its t. time stoodod still. every y single houour felt l like a day,y, and every y day felt l like a w, and d every weekek felt l like a montnth. there werere days it f felt lilike we had d been theree literally y for an eteternit. i felt hopelessness. i i had kind o of pushed g god, because e i didn't u understand. i'm 24.. i'm babarely out o of the gat, and now w it's all o over. -we had been rehearsing for this approximately two weeks, evevery night,t, and startrtg to d define a tatarget datee that we wewere gonna go do ththe hit. -it wawas imminentnt that theyee gonna rescscue the hosostage, anand then sududdenly we g t an u unfortunatete report from ourur source. -they bebegan to movove us so t we w wouldn't bebe trackable. -t-they were n no longer b beind 24 houours a day atat that sameme prison. so, if we e had set a particicular datee to go o and launchch this rai, ththere was atat least a a decent chahance that t they wouldndn't be the. -once the hostages had been moved to a new prison and wewe could no o longer pret whwhere they w were gonna ae at a any given p point in tit, we hadad to stand d down onon the operaration. it was n no longer p possible to launcnch a rescueue missio. -w-when i lookok at this,, i'm ststill a littttle heartbrn thatat we didn't't get to c carry this s out and do whatat we're chahartered to o. it's a a little bibitterswee. -it was s devastatining. i can'n't tell youou how didisappointeded we were. and d it was sorort of likee being g on the cususp of being a able to do o somethg thatat you neverer thought you'd bebe able to d do. and suddenenly you're e back atat square onone, ststarting allll over agaia. but you u have to bebe adaptab. because ththe world isisn't ot there trtrying to hehelp you. you have t to seize the oppoportunitiess that fate e presents y you. i have t to deal wiwith the wororld as it i , not asas i wish itit were. -a draramatic turnrn of eventste in the afgfghan capitatal, kab. the e city behinind me was o ofe a strongnghold of ththe talib. now ththose forceses have c completely y abandoned , leaving itit open for r the fos of the o opposition,n, northehern alliancnce, toto move in, , and to takake . -suddedenly, the t taliban lis nortrth of kabulul collapse, and the nonorthern alllliance comes rushshing forwarard. and they r rush into t the ci. the nortrthern alliaiance wawas a collecection of mimili, babasically, t tajiks, uzbzb, anand hazaras,s, who wewere tradititional enems of thehe taliban.. the talibaban come fleleeing toto the southth. it is cocomplete chahaos. -youou could feeeel in the ar the volatitility and t the intey and d the chaos.s. [ peoplele shouting g indistinc] we heardrd the soundnd of angryn rurunning downwn the hallwlw, and d these men n started totog onon the door r of our pririson. these men n were dressssed for . their heheads were c covered with t turbans thahat were wrad araround theirir faces. all you u could seee were theheir eyes. it was verery clear that thehese men would d have no qualms with doing us harm. -witnesssses say when the t taliban fleled kab, they t took with t them americs heatather mercerer and daynana , and d six otherr westerern aid workrkers. -it wass a veryry chaotic n no-man's-la. and ththe hostageses, we thin, werere still at t grave risk. -they y were complpletely lot to ourur sight. we hadad no idea a at that pot wherere they migight be. -t-the talibanan command a and l had fafallen apartrt. theyey were fleeeeing south hd toto the east,t, toward papaki. and ththe hostageses, we thin, werere still at t grave risk. -witnenesses say when thehe taliban f fled kab, they t took with t them americs heheather mercrcer and dayaynay and six x other western aiaid workers.s. -they werere completelely lot to our sigight. wewe had no ididea, at thahat , where ththey might b be. -when wewe stopped i in a villllage calleded ghazni. and the taliban put us into another prison. and we waited, and we prayed. and that was about all we c could do. -when the e hostages h had ben removed from the pririson inin kabul, our inintelligencece source jumped i in his carr and starteted driving g south with the f fleeing talaliban, hopiping that hehe could finind. -in ghaznini, there wawas fighg going g on out in n the stree. we c could hearr the u.s.s. jets flyiying in anand bombing g the stratetec tataliban strorongholds. after abouout 15 minututes' sil, we heardrd this entotourage of angry,, violenent men cocome and statart breakinig downwn the doorr of thehe prison bebelow. ththis was thehe moment ththat i thougught, "we'rere d" i was hihiding ununder this t table, jujust prayingng, "god, plplease, pleaease don't t let them s see me." righght at that t moment, these memen came intnto our cl and d they startrted yelling, "youou're free! ! you're fre! the taliliban have l left, anand you're f free!" and d i can't exexplain thatat t wherere you're a accepting that this s is your fafate, anand being ofoffered freeeem inin exchange.e. we w were so sururprised. and as soooon as thehe city calmlmed down and ththe fightingng stopped, these nortrthern alliaiance susupporters escorteded us out ofof the builg and we s started walalking ththrough the e streets. and d as we werere going through ththe old cityty, hundndreds and h hundreds ofof s ststarted to f fall in behind . the northern alliance e supports start t yelling toto the crow, "t"these weree the prisisoners in k kabul, and we'v've set themem free." anand they're e dancing in the strtreets, shshooting theheir guns in celebraration. ththe whole cicity was cecelebrating g freedom. and it wasas in that m momen, all my strtruggling, all my wrarangling witith go, he wanteted us to bebe set frfree with ththe people that we e had gone t to serv. itit was like,e, "god, you're so o good." the nonorthern alllliance took us toto the red c cross. and so, for the moment, dayna and i felt safe. but the taliban are still out there. we were extremely vulnlnerable. and d so we stilill needed to figurure out how wewe were gonnnna get out of afgfghanistan.. -o-one of my o officers sasa, "t"the hostageges are in g gh, in the lococal ghazni i offie ofof the interernational c come of the r red cross, , the icr" one of my case officers, the one who was handling the source, he g gets on thehe satellitetee wiwith his souource. and the ofofficer says, "whehere are youou?" and he sayays, "i'm'm sitting b by the road, on t the rain roroad south o of. they stotole my car.r." so he e says, "okakay, i don'n't care howow you get t . hitchhhhike if youou have to. but geget to the r red cross o e in ghazni.i." so, he s shoulders h his bag, and he s starts hitctchhikin, and d he manageses to catchh a ridede heading s south. and withthin a matteter of houours, he's i in ghazni at the r red cross o office. -i rememember when a an afghann cameme to the dodoor and sai, "pretetend like yoyou're goig to thehe back of t the buildin" soso we headeded towards t the. and out t of the kititchen came an n afghan manan dressd in civililian clothehes. we were shshocked to s see hi. anand he wasn'n't wearingg his tataliban clotothes. he didn'n't have hisis turba. hehe was very y clean-cut.. he'd s shaved his s beard. anand he comeses to me, and he g grabs my hahand, and then h he grabs mymy writ with his o other hand,d, anand he says,s, "are y you okay, m my sister" "w"we're fine.e. we're alall fine." he gavave us a a satellite e phone, and hehe said, "ththis is the ee number youou need to c call." soso, no soonener did i ststt cacalling the e number, and i i turned aroround, and he was gone. and i nenever saw hihim agai. we called the number, and on the other end was the chief consular officer from the u u.s. embassssy in islamamabad, pakikistan, and he saiaid to us, "tononight, we'r're coming with helelicopters t to get yo" -we e know thatt the bebest extractction point fofor the hoststages is this airirfield closose to gha. so we sasay, "you neneed to gett toto this airfrfield." -so, w we started d grabbing a few ththings, and starteted heading g towars where ththe helicoptpters arare coming.. -jsoc c has to goo a long w way to get t there. they lauaunch the e rescue helelicopters,, and d they set t them flyingngh toward ghahazni. -we e walked foror about 20 0 m. and d the satellllite phonee went d dead. -a-all communinication wasas , anand we're nonot gonna geget i. and d so, we havave no ideaa what's's happeningng. -i-it was realally just a a g anand a prayerer at that p po. -we walked for about 20 minutes, anand the satetellite phonoe wentnt dead. -all communication was lost, and we're not gonna get it baca. -and so, w we just satat ther, and we w waited. -the helicicopters are now momoving in, and d they can s spot the aiair. and rerescue helicicopters are tryingng to look for someme glimmer of lightht out heree inin this sea a of darknese. -w-we've got t to light a a f. thatat's the onlnly option w we. so my y german fririend had brbt a little h handbag witith he. and so, i i grabbed heher handg and i i started to look k for matchehes. and d there was s a box of m ms in the botottom of herer purs. and we took those e matches ou. we starteded taking ofoff our heheadscarves,s, lilighting thehem on fire.. and then w we just statarted wag the heheadscarvess in the s sky, like f flags, like burnining flags.. anand the helilicopters came aroround one momore tim, and d they saw t the fire. and we knenew they hadad seens bebecause thisis massive chinook k helicopterer justst swoops dodown over ouour. and d all of a s sudden, from acrososs the fieleld, out t of the shahadows, comes thisis row of g.g.i. jo. and we heaear their vovoices yellll from hundndreds of fefee, "are youou the detaiainees?! are e you the prprisoners?!" "yeses!" and he e says, "ma'am, yoyou're gonnana be jusust fine." -i-it had beenen complete e te. we had thehe expectatition ththat we had d been ababout to savave them. suddenlyly, it lookeked as t though evererything wasas. and nonow, suddenlnly, they were safafely in thehe helicop. it was comomplete relilief. -o-once we hitit pakistan,, we werere transfererred to a c0 ththat took usus to islamama. and as thehe back of the c-1-130 opened.d... standingng in the mimiddle ofof the runwaway...was mymy f. -in my spepeech in froront of t the united d states conon, i sasaid to the e taliban ththat one of f the objectcts was s to releasese the huhumanitarianan aid works that were e being detatained agagainst theieir will. wewe've achieveved that obobje. -w-we are so e excited to o be. and again,n, we know w we're he becaususe of the p prayers of fe all l over the c country, all ovover the wororld. -it t was an hononor. it w was an hononor and a prprivilege to serveve my countrtry. and it wasas a collectctive eff, not just b by the ciaa and afghghanistan and papakistan, bubut of coure with ourur military y brothes in arms. therere was a vevery brief but veryry intense s sense of . -i n never did.. once t they were r rescued, i was onon to the nenext thin. -freedom i is life. i don't t think you u can reay live witithout beingng free. ♪