With The U.S. Military Gone, The CIA Faces Tough Challenges In Afghanistan

Just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, a handful of CIA officers were the first Americans sent into Afghanistan. Gary Schroen was one of them, and he recalled his marching orders.

“Link up with the Northern Alliance [rebels], get their cooperation militarily, and they will take on the Taliban,” he said in a 2005 interview with NPR. “And when we break the Taliban, your job is to capture [Osama] bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice.”

CIA paramilitary operations date back to the agency’s founding. Yet in Afghanistan and elsewhere, these actions against the Taliban, al-Qaida and others became a defining feature of the spy agency over the past two decades. They’ve been marked by successes — and major controversies.