America and the Taliban: Part Two (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Watch Part Two of “America and the Taliban,” a three-episode FRONTLINE documentary series investigating how the U.S. lost the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

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Drawing on 20 years of on-the-ground reporting and revealing new interviews with both U.S. and Taliban officials, award-winning producers Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith chronicle how what began in the wake of the 9/11 attacks as an effort to eliminate Al Qaeda and oust its ruling ally, the Taliban, became America’s longest war with nearly 50,000 Afghan civilians dead, approximately 2,400 American servicemembers killed — and how it ended in defeat in August 2021 with U.S. troops withdrawing, the Western-backed Afghan government collapsing, and the Taliban once again in control.

Part Two of “America and the Taliban” focuses on how the war effort, which started under President George W. Bush, played out during President Barack Obama’s tenure. The documentary examines how a pattern of Afghan civilian casualties incurred during raids and other errant attacks severely undercut the U.S. military’s effort to win “hearts and minds” in the country, how U.S. efforts to train Afghan forces ran up against corruption and low morale and how the Taliban regained ground in Afghanistan.

Watch Parts One and Two now. Part Three premieres April 25.

“America and the Taliban” is a FRONTLINE production with RAIN Media, Inc. The producers are Brian Funck, Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith. The writers and directors are Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith. The correspondent is Martin Smith. The co-producer is Scott Anger. The executive producer and editor-in-chief for FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Park Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

CHAPTERS:

Prologue - 00:00

Ten Years into War in Afghanistan, U.S. Increases Raids - 1:15

U.S. ‘Kill/Capture’ Raids & Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan – 10:20

U.S. Begins Negotiations with the Taliban – 21:45

A New Afghan President & ‘Ghost Soldiers’ in the Afghan Forces - 31:40

Taliban Insurgency Defeats Afghan Forces in Kunduz in 2015 - 41:32

U.S. Airstrikes Hit Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz in 2015 - 45:16

The Taliban Gain Ground in Afghanistan - 50:16

Credits - 52:30