KABUL, Afghanistan After more than a year in exile, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum returned to his native Afghanistan on Sunday facing criminal charges of rape and kidnapping, as well . Because of this, Dostum was forced to flee . Is Captain Mitch Nelson still alive? Families back home monitor the news, not wanting to look but more afraid to turn it off. Weve spent years apart from our spouses due to Middle East deployments, and some of us, like me, are now sending our sons and daughters to fight the same war in the same places. No more Taliban. The horses cast long shadows in the late afternoon. Six months ago, he traveled to Kabul with some Pakistanis to join the Taliban. What made working with him particularly dangerous was that he was known for switching sides during several conflicts with Afghanistan. Or maybe that scene in Star Wars: These sand people started jabbering in a language we had never heard. The Americans shouldered their hundred-pound rucksacks while the Afghans hefted the rest of the equipment. The gear seemed to float from the landing site under a procession of brown blankets and turbans. He has two weeks of beard, beetling eyebrows, and a graying brush cut. They put the prisoners back on the truck. I head downstairs and discover a group of soldiers bantering cheerfully, mostly in southern accents. They huddle in brown blankets, trying to avoid the soaking rain. -Horse Soldiers book, Yes. It took about an hour to get the aircraft. Same thing: We identity it and boom! General Abdul Rashid Dostum had arrived. The Green Berets call it the Gap of Doom. Ten minutes later, another 40 riders galloped up. So, I worked for him, directly," says Riggle. A story of how 12 Americansand a Afghan warlord won the war on terror, if only for a brief time still remains to be told. Their closest call came toward the end of the campaign, before theyd reached the Tingi Pass; Id gotten an account of it last night from Mike, a big, bearded, soft-spoken soldier. He ended up in the Takhar Province, in the northeastern part of the country. In seconds, 250 men on horseback were thundering toward the Taliban position a mere 1,500 meters away. Yes. We could see a bunch of Taliban come out of another bunker complex off to the south and disappear behind a hill. This is where Alexander ruled, where Zoroaster was born, where Buddhists came on pilgrimages, a center of art, poetry, and study where lions were hunted and where Genghis Khan came to conquer. Each member had an average of eight years experience and most had combat experience in either Desert Storm, Kosovo or Somalia. The 12 Strong true story confirms that he had been given an administrative staff position in the Fifth Group Headquarters. Their motto is To Free the Oppressedsomething they have done so far in this war with no civilian casualties, no blowback, and no regrets. At a full gallop, its a smooth ride. Mark Nutsch, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the movie, had recently been promoted out of the job he loved, serving in the field as a Special Forces team captain. He talked for half an hour. This scandal would tarnish General Dostums very realaccomplishment of being Americas most aggressive and stalwart allyagainst the Taliban and al Qaeda. Dostum, portrayed brilliantly by Navid Negahban, comes off as a kind of Obi Wan Kenobi, the ancient-wisdom-dispensing warrior. It was old-fashioned professionalism. Theres one time Ill never forget, he says. You could see machine gun fire from both positions. Outmanned, the Green Berets decided to move out on horseback. So, I'm playing my old boss in the movie." Yes. At night we sit around talking over stainless steel cups of coffee. Dostum dismounted and shook everyones hand, then sat on a mound covered with carpets. -The Fayetteville Observer, ODA 595 was an experienced, mature team of Green Berets that had recently worked with special operations forces in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan's northern neighbor. John, he says. . CHRIS HEMSWORTH, left, as Captain Mitch Nelson and NAVID NEGAHBAN as General Dostum in "12 STRONG," (Warner Bros. Pictures) CHRIS HEMSWORTH as Captain Mitch Nelson in "12 STRONG." (David James) Most of the fallen look as if they were killed instantly. Early in the afternoon on November 10, Dostum reached Mazar. When the pilot radioed that he needed to return to base, the other pilot swung into action. The Taliban had dug-in, trench-line bunkers shooting machine guns, heavy ma-chine guns, and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. More hits: Tall, fat smoke plumes cast moving shadows on the grass. I now have a friend named Mark, Dostum says, referring to the Green Beret captain. ", Yes. Lined up against a wall is the most pathetic display of humanity I have ever seen: the survivors of the bunker at Qala Jangi fortress. Dostums men have been throwing down grenades and pouring in gasoline and lighting it, but the foreign Taliban refuse to come up. He rolls in a John Wayne walk to Commander Lal, whos in charge of the standoff. Drop a bomb on that grid. Pretty straightforward stuff.. War drama directed by Nicolai Fuglsig which is inspired by true events and is set days following 9/11 when a U.S. Special Forces team, led by their new Captain, Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), is chosen to be the first U.S. troops sent into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission. The team was ordered to exile to meet Donald Rumsfeld and be interviewed by Robin Moore. A clock sounds loudly. Newsletter They have Beretta pistols strapped to their thighs like gunslingers and short M-4 rifles slung across their chests. "If they got in trouble, there was very little I could do and nothing I could do quickly. It took just a few months for American and Afghan forces to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan; thus ousting them from power. Finally, the pilot says he has the target in sight. The then-secret Uzbekistan air base, also known as K2, is depicted as a sort of tent city in the movie. At first, their mission was one of personnel recovery, tasked with rescuing any pilots shot down during the air war in Afghanistan. Nelson must convince Col. Mulholland (William Fichtner) that his team is ready to meet with Northern Alliance General Dostum (Navid Negahban) to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. I dont think I will make it through this one he wrote me in an email just hours before he was gunned down on a raid in Ramadi. -KTLA 5 Riggle, now an actor known for his comedic performances, gave 23 years of total service to the military. They use simple wooden saddles covered with a piece of carpet, and short stirrups that put our knees up by our heads. The greatest restrictions they face have been placed on them by Dostum himself. 12 Strong stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor from the Avengers movies, in case youre not up on pop culture) and Oscar nominee Michael Shannon and is produced by Alcon Entertainment, Black Label Media, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. "We knew nothing about these guys," retired Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland said. His name, he says, is John Walker. They are direct military descendants of the Devils Brigade, a joint Canadian-American unit that fought in Italy during the Second World War. We begged, Mark says, but we were told to stay away. (In the end, the Regulators wouldnt get clearance to enter Qala Jangi until the uprising was over. Now we hope that America will not be cruel to the Afghan people.. They brought with them the courage of a whole army.. After the seventh grade, Dostum left school to help his father on the family farm. The dirty gray mushroom cloud slowly bends in the wind. Dostums men are touring the battle scene. We jumped in the back of a truck and drove up to Dostums HQ here in this house.. The Regulators were joined by at least three CIA officers kitted in full combat gear, including a 32-year-old ex-Marine named Mike Spann. Capt. Headstrong and known to get into fights,was adept at the game of buzkashi, in which horsemen attempt to toss the headless carcass of a calf into a circle. Dostum is actually a nickname thatmeans my friend was born Abdul Rashid in 1954 in the desolate village of Khvajeh Do Kuh, about 90 miles west of Mazar. General Dostum knew the area and how to reach the goal faster by cutting through the mountains and finally communicated this when he felt more trusting of Captain Nelson. I whip my horse, it takes three steps, and stops. We thought he was wounded. He is so sincere; whenever I see him, I feel joy. He pauses for a moment, lost in reflection. The mystery of missing prisoners was never matched up to the careful medical records kept of each al Qaeda and Taliban detainee kept by doctors and local NGOs. This time there is no convoy; just a son paying his respects to his father. Ka-RUMPH! On the morning of September 11, the team was returning to base after an all-night training exercise. People demanded that I do something, says Dostum. "They weirdly are a formidable force that will continue to fight, no matter what.". Our warhad been big footed by Iraq. 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme. Like in the film (available to watch here), at first they tried giving him horse feed but General Dostum wasn't impressed. "They didn't expect us to survive," Mark Nutsch said. He had been assigned to a Manhattan reserve unit at the time of 9/11 and spent part of September 2001 cleaning up debris from the World Trade Center. It served as Pauls command post. Based on the novel Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, 12 Strong offers a realistic depiction of what the unit went through, the inner workings of military culture, and the effect on both Afghan civilians and the units families back home. Their subcommander has told us at least six times over the radio to get out of there. It is also rumored that there are many dead and at least two live prisoners holed up in the subterranean bomb shelter. They observed how the film production was set up and talked to some of the actors, but they were never hired as consultants. It was like that scene in Close Encounters where the aliens meet humans for the first time, one soldier says later. The two Afghan leaders study a map with Captain Mark, just in case air strikes are needed. Bill and the team were wearing armor decorated with my logo when he died. Ive arranged through intermediaries to spend a month with the general, but for the past week, he has been a hundred miles east, trying to subdue Taliban forces that control the city of Kunduz. We had two days to plan, another Regulator says. By the time they come up and look, you are on them. The latter approach was well suited to Dostums style of attack. In the last two semi-wars we have been in, every time American soldiers get killed we pull out. Under intense pressure, the Regulators had called in a perfect surgical strikea bomb drop in a crowded urban area without a single civilian casualty. The general climbs out of the tiny black car and tucks his hands into his belt. It was somewhere between harassing and accurateenough to keep our heads down. It was indeed as much of a surprise to the real team as it is in the movie. A small group of CIA that included Mike Spann, flew in to the Darra-e Suf the day before ODA 595 would land. However, he had been deployed in the Middle East and around the globe. I watch a fighter go up to the top, then crumple into a black pile of rags. In a tiny, sparse room are his father, Dostums former teacher, and a village elder. He went on to serve in the US Army, although he did not see combat until the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. We had an entire 250-man cavalry ready to charge. The Regulators wanted Dostums right-hand man, Commander Lal, to hold off while they got their aircraft in position, but Lal had already given the order. There are twelve Green Berets here and two Air Force forward air controllers. Note that there is strong language throughout, as well as violence. He studied Arabic in Yemen and then enrolled in a madrasah, or religious school, in northern Pakistan. Both are awake, both unwilling to break the silence as their young child sleeps nearby. Mitch Nelson, a U.S. Army captain with Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595, is moving into a new home with his wife and daughter on September 11, 2001, after receiving an assignment to staff duty under Lieutenant Colonel Bowers. But back in 2001, Warlord Dostum who was head of the Jumbesh political party had simpler but identical goals: Align with the U.S. to return from exile in Turkey and bring the Taliban into the new government. It never happened in real life, though Pennington says that he still suffers from back pain from riding the horse. Matt yelled, Duck your head and get down! And that pilot dropped a shitload of bombs, Mike said. In between conflict there was time to celebrate. And theyd been told that he was the most powerful anti-Taliban leader in northern Afghanistan. Rifles, night-vision gear, and boots are strewn everywhere. You know: You better not show any weakness. ODA 595 followed by ODA 555 were the first two teams to have boots on the ground in Afghanistan following 9/11. There are 86 al Qaeda fighter in the basement, including John Walker Lindh. This was a guy we considered part of our unit, says Mark. Then came September 11. We had hardened fighters holed up in the middle of an urban area who wanted to die, says Will. From there, American and Afghan forces would liberate Kabul in the east, Herat in the west, Kandahar in the south, and Jalalabad, resulting in the Afghan forces taking control of the country from the Taliban. Fittingly, a lot of the actors in the movie had very little or no experience on a horse as well, so there wasn't very much acting needed to convey the team's lack of experience riding horses. I thought the guy was this ruthless warlord, one soldier says. Shannon's character is wounded in the movie for dramatic effect. In Doug Stanton's book Horse Soldiers, it was Colonel Max Bowers, portrayed by Rob Riggle, who brought a piece of steel with him from the World Trade Center to Afghanistan. (19 Dec 2001) 1. Paul picks up the story, raindrops dotting his gold-rimmed, government-issue glasses. At the end of the Soviet period Dostum had 45,000 troops with about half of them as village reserves. And we were going to oblige them.. Interestingly, actor Chris Hemsworth's real-life wife, Elsa Pataky, portrays his character's wife in the movie. Dostum chuckles and denies the allegation. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved, The joy was short-lived. Once the plane got there, it circled about six times, Paul says. In an air attack, says Air Force Steve, you do one of two things. Staying off the roads and in the wilds, they could swoop down andattackthe Taliban but could not hold the ground. Instead of the expected handful of holdouts, no fewer than 86 foreign Taliban emerged after a week in the agonizing dark and coldstarved, deaf, hypothermic, wounded, and exhausted. Its an important part of our countrys history and an amazing story of courage, brothers in arms, and the reasons we ended up in Afghanistan in the first place. "And to me, that was a plus when you got saddled with a mission that was going to be as complex as this one." That I am kind and gentle? Military families cant escape the fact that weve now been at war nearly 17 years. At first I thought, Why not let them rule? he says. Dostum must now change his focus from fighting to rebuilding his country. When war first came to Afghanistan, two decades ago, he built his first stronghold here to guard the village. The mission was also chronicled in Doug Stanton's 2009 book, Horse Soldiers, on which the movie is based. Over chai (tea), he announces good news. However, at least 3 false starts delayed their deployment for almost a month. The U.S. refused to work with Dostum until former UN envoy Charlie Santos pointed out to the CIA that the only functioning fighting group besidesthe Panjshiris ofMassoud wereDostums Uzbeks. The only sign that something is about to happen is a white contrail high in the sky. Sidelined, and in exile in Turkey, In 2009, Dostum was begged by President Karzai to come back from exile to reelect him and again in 2014 Dostum engineered the victory ofPresidentGhani.only to go back into exile. He never sacrificed his men. The deadline is noon. "Sir," he said. 12 Strong, from Warner Bros. Pictures, will release on January 19, 2018. Military families will relate to the goodbyes. He waves the accomplishment aside with a shy smile even as he promises to introduce me to his new trophiesthe mullahs. My opinion is an unequivocal yes. Dostums men kick the corpses into the trenches and cover them with the tan dirt, not bothering to count the dead. To my surprise, these men felt at home., And more than that: The Afghan warlord and his tiny band of American soldiers had clearly formed a bond that only men who have been through combat can understand. Our Afghans are running out of ammo. With Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Pea, Navid Negahban. He would take a village by getting the mounted guys up close. Furthermore, as shown in the movie, they were grossly outnumbered. As he leans into the Afghan wind, the light falls, and a moment in history fades. Outnumbered by enemy fighters 5,000 to 1, the men were also in extreme danger due to the huge bounties placed on their lives by the Taliban. Theres the erratic chatter of AK-47s and the deep dut dut dut dut of Taliban machine guns. The risk they were taking was indeed that great. America was fully committed to defeating the Taliban and ousting them from power. Commandeering whole villages, women in burkas with not even eyes showing, the stoning of a woman only for being caught in adultery, and the execution of a mother for daring to teach her daughters to read. The movie tells the hitherto little known story of a U.S. Army Special Forces unit sent on a dangerous mission into Afghanistan mere days after 9/11. . A hundred yards away, villagers stand against a long compound. He refused to talk to his parents and he was takenback to our guesthouse for his protection. In the courtyard, a soft-eyed cow tries to eat spilled oats just beyond its reach. you die. We were focused on calling in an air strike to take out this truck that had rumbled into view, and now RPG rounds are flying over our heads. Some stayed behind to handle logistics and supplies. The men Im staying with have dubbed their unit the Regulators, after the 19th-century cowboys who were hired by cattle barons to guard their herds from rustlers. Nothing of the war, death, exile, and victory that have shaped the man sitting in the front seat. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, on the decision to make the movie: Remarkably enough, there have been very few films made about the Armys Special Forces. They had gone only about 600 meters when they started taking fire. A few minutes later, one of Dostums men runs up breathlessly, saying there is an American in the hospital. They had to kill their horses for food. Some American soldiers are billeted upstairs in the guest houses; men in camo pants run up and down the stairs. I know because I counted the dead bodies. Astoundingly, after two days of bombardment, the prisoners still control the fort. It turned out that 900 Pakistani Taliban had been left behind in a madrasah in the center of a compound about the size of a city block, and they were ready to fight to the death. -The Fayetteville Observer, In addition to ODA 595, three other teams were selected. After that hit, all of them took off on foot to Mazar. Nutsch commented: Were humbled that a movie has been made about our teams mission in that pivotal post 9/11 period. The Regulators have served in the gulf war, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and in other places they cant talk about. Within hours, they are gone. There were some deep unresolved internal conflicts because of the death of Mike Spann and why they over their protests had been sent to Kunduz. Once they hit the ground, the Regulators would be writing their own game plan. If we had been there, Mikes death would not have happened., When they got word of the incident, the unit desperately wanted to get back to the prison. We transfer him to Dostums house, and the next day hes spirited away at the same time that his story is being broadcast around the world. show Dostum the chapter in Rashids book that includes the account of the gruesome execution of the thief. The people of Dostums village were so impressed with his leadership that they recruited 600 men for him to command. All the while, we could see troops moving and disappearing. All the while ostracizing the now First Vice President Dostum who is currently in exile in Ankara plotting his next move. Mullah Faizal and Mullah Nuri soon surrendered Kunduz to Dostum, and Walker was imprisoned with the other foreign volunteers in the bunker at Qala Jangi. At the same moment he was trying to flee Mazar from the Taliban assault. There is an emotional landscape here I cannot see. The 12 Strong movie has Chris Hemsworth's character (Mark Nutsch in real life) being given the candy-bar-sized piece of metal by Colonel Mulholland. Nelson and five of his men set off behind General Dostum and his forces, leaving Cal Spencer, Pat Essex, Charles Jones, Scott Black, Ben Milo, and Fred Falls behind to coordinate logistics and . We accepted a huge amount of risk." The credits claim that General Dostum and Captain Mitch Nelson have remained friends in real life . Later, several months after the Taliban fell, the special operations teams returned to Mazar-i-Sharif to bury the piece of the World Trade Center. Before the arrival of the Americans, Dostum fought mostly at night. "The battle at the end was not depicted accurately," says the real Bob Pennington. Later that week, Dostum casually mentions that 3,000 other foreign fighters from the surrender at Kunduz are in a Soviet-era prison in the city of Sheberghan, 80 miles west. Mitch Miller died on July 31, 2010 of natural causes. -SOFREP, In the movie, Chris Hemsworth's character's wife is not pregnant. When the television begins to blare, the men stare at the screen. Mitch Nelson, scanned the dark landscape around the landing zone. Various close ups of American Specia. Nutsch said that the movie leaves out a key river that the men often had to swim across in the freezing cold water with their horses, one of the bigger obstacles they faced on the mission. Late in the afternoon, a convoy of mud-spattered off-road vehicles pulls up, and a dozen dusty Americans in tan chocolate chip camo climb out. ODA 595 and its commander, Capt. Weve all been there. The Turks, long staunch enemies of Islamic extremism, contributed a small sum as well, and, on April 22, 2001, General Dostum and 30 men were ferried into northern Afghanistan on Massouds aging Soviet helicopters. The book was quietly taken out of print. Gradually shapes emerged out of the shadows - a small group of Afghan Northern Alliance soldiers together with four American advisers who had been in country for about two weeks. This article on ODA 595, General Dostum, John Walker Lindh and the battle at Qali-i-Jangi was originally published in the March 2002 edition of National Geographic Adventure, THE LEGEND OF HEAVYAND THE BOYS By Robert Young Pelton. They are currently enjoying some well earned recognition now that the film 12 Strong has been released but again, the filmis not anywhere close to the truth. The pilot asked us, Whats the effect [of the bomb attack on the truck]? We yell over the radio, We dont know! He also used to compete in collegiate rodeos. Over the ensuing days, I take every opportunity to spend time in these makeshift barracks, particularly once I discover that this is the very unit of Green Berets that Id been hearing rumors aboutthis is Dostums covert support team. The team was under orders not to talk to journalists. When we climbed up to the top of that hill, we could see the Taliban on the other side, regrouping for the final attempt to stop us. . They had tanks, air force, and artillery. The morning after Heavy Ds return from Kunduz, he greets me with a deep, booming Howareyou? Today, he tells me, he is eager for me to meet his trophy mullahs. Dostum proves to be significantly more expansive in conversation than his scant press clippings would suggest, and hes happy to fill me in on his background. But 9/11 changed all that. The conflict we expected to be over in months inexplicably continues on. A good reminder for all Americans are the scenes portraying the oppressive lives the Afghan people were subjected to under Taliban rule. I will let what you see be the truth.. He is a thick man with a pug nose, bad skin, tiny teeth, and a cruel stare. After days of killing as many Taliban as they could they were accused of murdering prisonersin shipping containers. Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. The problem is that the the Convoy of Death story is false. Like in the movie, Doug Stanton's book Horse Soldiers describes Nutsch going to Colonel Bowers after the attacks to ask to be placed with his team again. The Taliban had surrendered at Qali i Jangi to CIA officer JR and Dostum and surrenders were under way in Kunduz. SFC Bill Bennett RIP Robert Young Pelton, all rights reserved. Over the next few weeks I privately coin for him a nickname based on the medias fear and his in person good humor: I call him Heavy D, after the 1980s rapper. But the US Armed Forces were thin on the ground, and were potentially facing around 50,000 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Fifty tents later, they told us to pack our shit again.. They also need blankets.". So we would put in for priority for the planes. The teams primary weapons were not pistols or rifles; they were the most fearsome tools in the American arsenal: F-18s, F-16s, F-14s, and B-52s. The bomb lands and hits and bam! Dostum stays in contact with the Americans by radio, working to help focus the bombing: a man with a seventh-grade education directing the fire of the worlds most powerful military. Armored personnel carriers jerk to life in clouds of black diesel exhaust. The actions of the ODA 595 helped lay the groundwork for that victory. At its core, 12 Strong is not just a war movie; its a story about learning to respect the differences that separate us but also to embrace the qualities that unite us., Terms of Use The steel gate to the guest house opens, and Dostum strolls out, hands in pockets, and is ushered into a black Audi Quattro with tinted windows. At 3:30 a.m., I go to bed. The teacher giggles, his white beard shaking with joy. He rose through the ranks quickly becoming a paratrooper in 1973, an armored unit in 1978 and Battalion 734 KhAD by 1983. Dostums real success was in negotiating enemy commanders to lay down their arms and to join him. They were potentially facing about 50,000 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. It was the finest sight I ever saw. If the Taliban can rule successfully, let them. A year later, betrayed by his second in command, who had defected to the Taliban, Dostum fled to Turkey. Nutsch is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the movie and renamed Mitch Nelson. Dostum and his commanders wanted to negotiate, but the foreign Taliban shot and killed their peace envoys, which left Al-liance leaders with little choice. Then the bombs are dropped, and I look through the scope and see body parts flying everywhere. "We had seven years of rehearsal for that relationship," says Hemsworth.