1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: and Ori with you. Robert Young Pelton with us, author 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: of course, Licensed to Kill Hired Guns in the War 5 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: and Terror. He is an author, journalist, filmmaker, photographer, adventurer, 6 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: explorer and philosopher. Of course, he has trained av seals 7 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: and survival, participated in secret special Forces training. Motivates a 8 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: lot of people to do meaningful things with their time 9 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: on this planet. And we're going to talk to him 10 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: about world events. Robert, welcome back, my friend. Have you 11 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: ben I? George? I was just in Northern Head of 12 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,319 Speaker 1: all places, so it's good to be back where it's 13 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: not one hundred and thirty degree. You're all over the map. 14 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: I hear they stopped chasing Joseph Coney. Is that true? Now? 15 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:46,879 Speaker 1: I've been tracking him for years. He's in DARC in 16 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: the northern part of DRC. Right now, Well, let's talk 17 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: about things that have been happening on this planet lately, 18 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: get your views on it, and of course we're coming 19 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: up on the tragic twentieth anniversary of nine to eleven 20 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: this coming Saturday. And the situation of Afghanistan. Give me 21 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: your overall view, Robert on just the Afghanistan situation, us 22 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: going in there, as staying twenty years, and then the 23 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: way we got out. Yeah, I guess the easiest way 24 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,759 Speaker 1: to process what's happening now, particularly on nine to eleven, 25 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: twenty years later, is that Afghanistan always was a poor, 26 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: landlocked country, and despite the trillions of dollars we spent 27 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: in lives we lost, we can't change that metric. We 28 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: can push the needle a bit, you know, we can 29 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: increase the economy, and we can build some things, but 30 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: the country itself doesn't have the ability to sustain the 31 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: amount of development we put in. You know, we can 32 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: build a school, but we can't magically create a teacher. 33 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: You know, we can build a road, but we can't 34 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: create commerce between two points. So, you know, I was 35 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: with the Taliban when they first took over, and it's 36 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: not a whole lot different, you know, you see it 37 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: within minutes. It just so it devolves back to its 38 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: normal homely stasis. So I think that's a lesson to learn, 39 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: is that we went in there, we put a lot 40 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: of energy, a lot of money, but we can't shift things, 41 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: you know, we can't turn it into another America or 42 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: another state. No, I know. And the way we left 43 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: you we should have gotten everybody out first, the people 44 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: that we're going to come out, and then the truth. 45 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 1: We've been leaving for ten years. And I have to 46 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: say something that there is a political movement now that 47 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: there was a need to help people get out. You know, 48 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: some of my friends who are Afghan special Forces and 49 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: you know, interpreters and people that worked with the US. 50 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: There was some risk. Those people are out. And what's 51 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: happening now is there sort of a political movement in 52 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: which they're trying to create a sense that we've left 53 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: people behind. And in reality, we've been leaving for ten years, 54 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: so there's there's no shock or secret that we were 55 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: going to pull out at some point. Robert, who are 56 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: the Taliban? It's a very strange question because they seem 57 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: to be almost miss a call, right. It's almost like 58 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: cartoon figures. The Taliban are essentially a group of people 59 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: who went to religious schools in Pakistan, and in Pakistan 60 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: during the English occupation of colonial times, they created schools 61 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: for poor people and these were called madrassas. Then you 62 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: would learn religious training. So, as Afghan's explained it to me, 63 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: you know, if you have five kids, one becomes a businessman, 64 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: one becomes a soldier, and one becomes a mullah, and 65 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: you need five years of training to become a mullah. 66 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: So what happened is that a lot of poor kids 67 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: in Pakistan were in these madrassas, which were then used 68 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: to recruit fighters during the eighties. And this religious training 69 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: sort of had a firebrand element to it, and so 70 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: it was used by the CIA and the is SI 71 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: to recruit people to go fight the Russians. And this 72 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: created the whole class of people who fought and who 73 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: were abused and terribly treated during the eighties. But we're 74 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: never be part of the country of Afghanistan. So this 75 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: is a nationalist movement. And when we first saw them, 76 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: they were getting rid of warlords and sort of endless fighting. 77 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: This time they just sat and sat us out and 78 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: just argued us out in Doha and we gave up 79 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: and they just came back. How did they organize so 80 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: quickly to take over the country so fast? Okay, Well, 81 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: they've always had shadow government. So you go to a 82 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: place in Afghanistan, you'll see a governor that was appointed 83 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: by Karzai or Ghani. He's probably from Australia. He probably 84 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 1: has a degree in economics. There's also a shadow governor 85 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: who works for the Taliban and he collects taxes and 86 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: he says, oh, so that guy charged you one hundred 87 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,480 Speaker 1: dollars to register your car. Well, we're going to put 88 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: a bomb, you know, along the road, and you'll get 89 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: your justice. So the Taliban was always known for sort 90 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: of being a balancing act and sort of fighting the corruption, 91 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: you know, in lack of interest of these centralized government. 92 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: So when they sort of said okay, now we're going 93 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: to take over, it was completely in sync with our redraw. 94 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: Withdraw we simply took out so many troops that we 95 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 1: could not defend the military institutions and the troops that 96 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: we had created. We did the same thing as the Russians. 97 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: We wanted to create four hundred thousand security troops. We're 98 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: just doing it for the money. So when the Taliban 99 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: said here we come, they didn't want to die for that. 100 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: The Talibs are Afghans and they actually remember when the 101 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: Talibs were in power. So we saw something in an 102 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: artificial environment that when we turned the lights off, poofed, 103 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: it turned right back to what it was before. When 104 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: the Soviets tried to invade Afghanistan, we helped what was 105 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: called the Mujahadeen. Were they some of the Taliban? Yeah, 106 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: so this is an interesting little piece of trivia. So 107 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: the war in Afghanistan was actually caused by Jimmy Carter 108 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine and July when the authorized covert 109 00:05:55,880 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: support for Pakistan based Hattie groups. And when the Russians 110 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: saw this, they said, oh, we better get in there. 111 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: So that's when the Russians invaded in the winter. And 112 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: then what happened is that we ended up pumping anywhere 113 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: between three to six billion dollars in weaponry and support 114 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: to degrade the Russian forces, and that created an entire 115 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: class of sort of warriors who couldn't be part of society. 116 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: And they mostly lived in the border areas in Pakistan, 117 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 1: which is you know, if you know the tribal areas, 118 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: there's sort of half Afghanistan, half Pakistan. And these people 119 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: had very rough and tumble lives. So when you see 120 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: the Talibs walking around cobble, they're about forty two in literate. 121 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: They can't read it write. They have no education. So 122 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: you're seeing a group of quasi intellectuals who have religious 123 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: training and just large numbers of farm kids who've never 124 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 1: seen the city before. Now some are along the line. 125 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: Bin Laden was a member of this group somehow, because 126 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: didn't we support him too well? Okay, So what happened 127 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: is that the Afghans speak Dari and Pashto, right, so 128 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: when these guys went to fight, suddenly these Arabs started 129 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: showing up. And there was a guy named billah Zam 130 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: who recruited foreigners to come fight and help the Afghans 131 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: fight the godless Soviets. And those people were separated because 132 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: they spoke Arabic, and so ben Laden ran a excuse me, 133 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: an office in the university areas Peshawar, and his job 134 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: was to write down the names and addresses and phone 135 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: numbers of all these volunteers that came over, so if 136 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: they got killed, they could tell their family. That book, 137 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: which is sort of what you call database, became the base, 138 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: which is al Qaida. So all the Arabic speaking fighters 139 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: were channeled through different methods and they became what they 140 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: called al Ansar, and they were sort of like the 141 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: shock troops, you know, the guys that went there to 142 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: die and they would be brave and go to heaven, 143 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: and they fought Jiha, but they weren't linked to any 144 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: sort of nationalists. The Afghan movement and Afghanis are not 145 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: what we would call traditional Arabs. They're not Saudi Arabia 146 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: or Labanon or Kawait or any or Iraq or anything 147 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: like that, are they. No. Afghans are a unique race. 148 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: Some of them even think they're the lost tribe of Israel. 149 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: The Pushtoons are the largest group. They're they're a fascinating 150 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: group of people. You know, I have a ranch over 151 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: there and my friends are Pushtoon and they have very 152 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: strong commitments to friendship and defending people. But at the 153 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: same time they're they're admired for their bravery and their 154 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: strength and whatever. So the Arabs, who used to call 155 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: gumbies because they're a very skinny and bent a lot 156 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: would come over to sort of brag about fighting jihad. 157 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: And so you've got to remember a lot of teenagers 158 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: there have no money, no girlfriend, no chance of any 159 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: sort of feudvancement. Being a jihadi is a big deal. 160 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,320 Speaker 1: It's like being a marine. You know, I went over there, 161 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: I fought blah blah blah. So they attracted a lot 162 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: of Arab kids and a lot of foreigners. So where 163 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: do we stand today? I mean, the President's approval rating 164 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: has plummeted, partly because of COVID nineteen and the way 165 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 1: he's been handling that, but a lot over the Afghanistan situation. 166 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 1: Where are we as a country with our foreign policy? 167 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: I mean we respected anymore? Well? I have to say this. 168 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen war for thirty years, and I've 169 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:15,359 Speaker 1: been and god knows how many wars, you know, fifteen twenty. 170 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: I'm happy we're getting out of Afghanistan. And I'm saying 171 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: that as a guy who's been to Afghanistan many, many 172 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: times over twenty thirty years. We created a horrible situation 173 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: in which there was no win, there was no easy 174 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: way out. So Biden, and I think because he's an 175 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: older gentleman, and said, I'll make that hard decision. You know, 176 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: it was basically precipitated by Trump's agreement with Taliban, but 177 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 1: He's willing to take it on the chin for that, 178 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: and I think that's healthy. I don't think America should 179 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: be running around the world trying to stomp out every 180 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: little fire and find every terrorist. So I think that's good. Secondly, 181 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: Americans has to look inward. You know. I wouldn't say 182 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: that we've had a destroyed culture, but COVID has really 183 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: taken it on the chin. I mean, we spent trillions 184 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: of dollars just trying to keep people in their homes 185 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: and employed, et cetera, et cetera. So I think it's 186 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: time to heal ourselves, you know, to look inwards. And 187 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: this is a trend all around the world of nationalism. 188 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: You know, people saying, let's take care of us before 189 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: we run around and try to fix everybody else's problems. 190 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: Would you say the world is more dangerous now than 191 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: it was ten years ago. Yes, And I don't mean 192 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:22,960 Speaker 1: that somebody's going to hit you with a brick as 193 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: soon as you get off the plane. But I mean 194 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: people are now instead of being globalists and looking at 195 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: the International Brotherhood as a way of the future, they're 196 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: looking at tribalism. They're looking at family. And you can 197 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: see that in your neighborhood. People want to take care 198 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: of their family, they want to take care of their house, 199 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: they want to take it a local government is important 200 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,599 Speaker 1: to them, and this sort of creates distrust of foreigners 201 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: and distrust the new things. The amount of aid that 202 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: we normally spend overseas is dropping. We have very little 203 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: interest if there's a floods in Bangladesh, you know, because 204 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,959 Speaker 1: we have floods in New Orleans. So we're now focusing 205 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,719 Speaker 1: inward and we're looking at our needs. Listen to more 206 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,839 Speaker 1: Coast to Coast am every weeknight at one a m. 207 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: Eastern and go to Coast to Coast am dot com 208 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: for more