april 1978. in a coup, communities seized kabul.seize with the u.s. focused on the iron hostage crisis the soviet union invaded afghanistan on christmas eve, 1979. the russian leader claimed to be helping his beleaguered come rads. i think when the russians invaded afghanistan it was an issue of national pride with you will but was further compounded by being viewed as a holy war. oliver: afghanistan became the new hot zone in the cold war. the holy warriors against the soviets became known as the mujahadine. the resistance really was very weak at first. it kept getting stronger all the time because other nations came to their aid. oliver: before he deployed
u.s. forces began military action that opposed the radical islamic government of the taliban and hunt down al-qaeda s leaders. we stand with the afghan people. it was the start of operation enduring freedom and the global war on terror. we stand side by side with you without hesitation. we rolled in here to afghanistan. there is no infrastructure and no human capital to work with. there was literally from the ground up building what we see out there today operating. our people will be given justice. oliver: now, a decade later it has become america s longest war. it is in our vital national interest to it send an additional 30,000 u.s. troops to afghanistan. an endeavor of life and death. we see the shift taking place and the afghans are taking the lead and taking on more of the responsibility. we are trying to give them an ethos of self-less service to their nation and to their
19 october 2001, under cover of darkness, u.s. army rangers parachute to secure an airfield for operation enduring freedom. u.s. and british bombs and missiles had already begun to soften up enemy targets. it was brutal under the law that the taliban instituted in a way that can only be described as medieval. steven tanner is author of the back afghanistan a military history fromma alexander the great to the fall of the taliban. chopping off hands and execution. women aren t allowed to be outside unless accompanied by a man. oliver: after seizing poured concreter in 1996, the taliban ruled afghanistan with an iron fist. they also befriended the international terrorist
challenge. the size of our area of operations makes it to where the marines are on the road all the time delivering supplies. oliver: in the whole area how many paveed roads are there? one paveed road and we call it ring road and the rest of our area of operation is very rugged terrain. oliver: this is it. this is the one paveed road? that s correct. pretty much in all of afghanistan. oliver: war stories joined forwardany 27 at ford operating base on the edge of what was once a prospering city. then the taliban returned and created a who ar horrifying ght town. today, it is a battlefield. captain son of my naval academy classmate commanded fox company 27. the enemy hass a forward line of troops. any time we go, they never disappointed us, we go
undercover. going into combat zones, working in tribal area, looking and dressing like tribal. oliver: on 25 november, taliban prisoners including one american, john walker lynn revolted. in the crossfire fire, cia officer mike spann was struck. the agency has lost a number of fine officers in support of our efforts to combat terrorism. mike spann certainly is among those. oliver: with the taliban on the run, u.s. forces faced a different challenge. understanding the tribal loyalties and ancient customs that sade the afghan people. such a complex tribal structure and complex history. oliver: that s next, on war stories.