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THEN & NOW: Final Rescue Mission for First American Soldier Into Afghanistan
A Green Beret is trying to save the Afghan allies he fought alongside after 9/11
LEFT: Captain Justin Sapp with Afghan fighters from the Northern Alliance in October 2001. RIGHT: Colonel Justin Sapp in front of the America's Response Monument in 2023.
Courtesy Justin Sapp
It’s hard to believe that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were nearly 22 years ago. When the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I was underwater off Key West, Florida, taking part in the Special Forces combat diver course.
When I surfaced, we were at war. I was a Green Beret captain about to turn 29, and by an accident of history, I became the first American soldier behind Taliban lines in Afghanistan after 9/11. I was detailed to the CIA’s Team Alpha, and we arrived in-country on Oct. 17, 2001.
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Over the next two decades of war, I served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. I lost many friends. Now I’m a 50-year-old colonel about to retire. Although I’m not a New Yorker, I currently work in Manhattan, and every weekday I am close to Ground Zero, where it all began in 2001.
It’s an odd feeling to walk past the Horse Soldier Statue at Ground Zero — the formal name for it is America’s Response Monument — because that’s what I did, riding through the mountains into battle as my Green Beret comrades called in air strikes on the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
What people sometimes forget, however, is that we didn’t do that alone. Alongside us were Afghan fighters from the Northern Alliance, mostly ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks who had been brutally persecuted by the Taliban, whose rule was one of medieval barbarism.
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Those Afghans were the reason we toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001. They were incredible fighters — magnificent horsemen, brave, determined and willing to die for our mutual cause. Some of them did die in 2001. A number were killed in the subsequent 20 years, leaving large families behind. Others survived and are once again faced with Taliban oppression.
There are a number of sacred responsibilities that are part of an American soldier’s creed. One of them is that we leave no one behind. I lived that in November 2001 when my friend Mike Spann, a former Marine officer turned CIA paramilitary, was killed. It took us three days to recover his body.
The eight members of the CIA’s Team Alpha just before they were flown into Afghanistan. Justin Sapp is in the front on the right.
Courtesy of Justin Sapp
Another responsibility is that we are true to our allies, that we help those who helped us. We don’t abandon them when they no longer suit our needs or when it is difficult or politically inconvenient. That is why the tragic withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 was so hard for me.
Our country let down some of those men I had fought with in 2001. We just left.
But the greatness of the United States rests in its people, not its government. And when, for whatever reason, our government leaves a vacuum, there are always people who will fill it.
That’s why I helped set up a nonprofit charity to assist the men who fought alongside us after 9/11 and their families. We named it Badger Six, a call sign Mike and I had used in 2001.
They are the Afghan allies who were there from the beginning. They did everything that the U.S. government expected of them in terms of trying to facilitate a democratic Afghanistan that was a peaceful country and didn’t harbor terrorists. We haven’t had an attack on our homeland since 9/11, and they were part of ensuring that.
The irony is that they didn’t have any paperwork, the badges and documents that other Afghans were subsequently provided. So they were really left in the lurch in 2021.
I believe that we have a duty to support our allies, not just from a moral point of view but also from a practical, strategic perspective. We didn’t do right by the South Vietnamese or the Kurds, and now it’s the Afghans. The world notices this pattern, and it hurts our ability to develop reliable allies in the future.
In Vietnam, our allies were sent to political reeducation camps or were killed. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are not as organized — it’s more arbitrary. But the punishment for being an ally of the United States is death. The people we are trying to help are in hiding. And women and girls have no future at all.
There are many worthy charities helping Afghans. What makes Badger Six different is that we have a defined and limited goal — we are helping 35 families. Those families in hiding in Afghanistan need about $500 per month while we figure out how to get them to safety. It’s not much.
The other difference is that it’s personal. I know these people. Thankfully, some are out. Mohammed Faqir al-Jowzjani, a Cavalry commander, was with me in late 2001 and helped recover Mike Spann’s body. He now lives in New Jersey with his family. He is older than me and speaks no English, so life for him is hard. But his children have the chance to live the American Dream.
There are similarities between the rescue mission that Badger Six is currently engaged in and our mission in 2001. We are improvising, seeking support wherever we can find it, and we are determined to achieve our goal. And we are Americans, doing the right thing.
You can donate to Badger Six here.
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