This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

In the years leading up to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the groundwork for one of the longest military engagements in American history was quietly being laid. While the world largely focused on the aftermath of the Cold War and rising globalization, Afghanistan was descending into a power vacuum that would ultimately draw the attention—and military might—of the United States and its allies.

The rise of the Taliban in the mid-1990s marked a dramatic shift in Afghanistan's political and cultural landscape. Emerging from the chaos of the Afghan civil war, the Taliban—a movement rooted in radical Islamic ideology—rapidly gained control over large swaths of the country, eventually seizing Kabul in 1996. Their rule was characterized by brutal enforcement of Sharia law, the oppression of women, and the eradication of cultural and religious diversity. Despite their severe policies, the Taliban's initial promise of stability in a fractured nation earned them both supporters and, to a degree, passive acceptance within parts of Afghan society.

During this same period, Al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, found sanctuary within Taliban-controlled territory. Expelled from Sudan in 1996, bin Laden sought refuge in Afghanistan, where he built training camps, recruited fighters, and plotted attacks against Western interests. The Taliban, while not directly involved in Al-Qaeda's global operations, provided the terrorist network with the space and protection it needed to grow. Intelligence agencies around the world began to raise alarms, but the decentralized nature of terrorism, combined with the geopolitical complexities of the region, limited any cohesive or immediate response.