The CIA’s Zero Units in Afghanistan

After a tragic shooting in Washington, D.C., Thomas and Aimen trace the story back to Afghanistan and to the CIA-backed Zero Units that carried out some of the coalition’s most clandestine kill-or-capture missions.

They discuss:

• The November 2025 D.C. shooting and the alleged link to a former Zero Unit operative

• What the Zero Units were designed to do and why they were so controversial

• Afghanistan's geography of terrorism and counterterrorism

• The lifelong psychological damage caused by black ops

• How the Doha Agreement sidelined the US’s Afghan partners

• The halfway house vetting pipeline through German

• The problem of PTSD, monitoring, and support for both Afghan allies and U.S. veterans

• Whether America can fight future wars if local allies believe they’ll be left behind

Join the Conflicted Community here: conflicted.supportingcast.fm

Find us on X: x.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: facebook.com/MHconflicted (twitter.com/MHconflicted)

And Instagram: instagram.com/conflictedpod (facebook.com/MHconflicted)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices