🎧 The First US Special Forces in Afghanistan Were on Horses | Ryan Morgan

By Benjamin Trenerry
Benjamin Trenerry
Benjamin Trenerry
November 13, 2026Updated: November 13, 2026

In the chaotic weeks after 9/11, a small number of U.S. special forces and Air Force combat controllers slipped into northern Afghanistan and linked up with Northern Alliance fighters. With no vehicles available, they rode into combat on horses across some of the most unforgiving terrain on earth. One Green Beret, Chris Spence, captured those moments on a digital camera. Those photographs became some of the defining images of the beginning of the war, inspiring a book, a film, and a statue in New York City, even as Spence remained uncredited for years.

In this episode, Benjamin Trenerry speaks with Epoch Times reporter Ryan Morgan about his interviews with Spence and others who were there. They discuss how the Americans ended up on horseback, the rapid collapse of the Taliban, and how the men who lived through those early weeks now look back on both the mission and the end of the war that lasted two decades.

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