The CIA Enters Afghanistan: Former Alpha Team Leader J.R. Seeger on the CIA's 2001 Entry into Afghanistan and Paramilitary Ops Against the Taliban

In this episode of The Burn Bag Podcast, A'ndre talks with former CIA Paramilitary officer and Alpha Team Leader J.R. Seeger on the CIA's 2001 insertion into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the early days of the Afghanistan War. Seeger, who's had a 27 year career in federal service, led Alpha Team, one of the first CIA paramilitary teams to be dropped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, and provides us with an oral history of the pre-war intelligence operations and CIA's efforts to consolidate the Afghan Resistance's efforts against the Taliban. Seeger, who can't necessarily discuss some of the specifics of his role on the ground in Afghanistan, nevertheless guides us through the history of the operations, including a discussion on the uprising at Qala-i-Jangi compound near Mazar-i-Sharif that resulted in the death of his team mate Mike Spann -- America's first casualty in the twenty year Afghanistan War.

Since retiring from federal service, J.R. Seeger has written a litany of thriller novels, which include the MIKE4 series, which focuses on a family of special operations officers spanning between World War II and the present day.

J.R.'s story and that of Team Alpha is also covered in Toby Harnden's book First Casualty. We interviewed Toby several months ago on their story, which you can listen to here.