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: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod 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