Everyone who has seen a Halloween movie knows you can’t run from Michael Myers. The only way to defeat the terror of Michael Myers is to fight him–to take him head on. And the same is true about the horror show that is Afghanistan. If you run from the truth, it will chase you down, it will drag you down, it will cut you into little pieces, and it will come for your friends, and just keep coming. Like Michael Myers, the truth doesn’t die.
And the fight for it around Afghanistan won’t die either. Even if President Biden and countless partisan apologists and hacks look to defend themselves, rather than face the truth. Especially now, as they see Afghanistan continues to spiral downward, and pivotable Congressional midterms creep closer and closer—like Freddy Krueger, waiting for you to fall asleep.
But there are people who are embracing the truth. Heroes that understand the truth. That have a unique link to the truth. That comprehend it’s origins, it’s history, it’s motivations, it’s trajectory. Like Jamie Lee Curtis had a mental bond with Michael Myer, there are leaders that know the truth is coming—even when others won’t believe it’s real. Sometimes, because it’s just too scary.
Heroes like our guest in this episode. Like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween, he’s back! A man who can stand up to the scary, the brutal, the terrifying. Our friend, humanitarian, activist, superhero: Matt Zeller (@MattCZeller).
Matt is America’s leading voice on the issue of American allies in Afghanistan. He’s an Combat veteran and Army major that made it out of Afghanistan alive only because of the courage of his Afghan interpreter. And he’s been paying it forward ever since. The courageous Co-Founder of No One Left Behind, Truman National Security Fellow author of Watches Without Time: An American Soldier in Afghanistan, and the newest member of the powerhouse team at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
Since he was last on this show for Episode 127 in August, Matt’s spent every day sounding the alarm about what’s coming, demanding action from the White house, rushing allies out of certain death, and serving as America’s conscience to ourselves and the world. He’s been on countless TV and radio shows around the world, and he’s somehow, still standing, still fighting. And he’s back. To tell us what’s really happening right now in Afghanistan–and why it’s the ultimate Halloween horror story. He’ll take us inside the White House spin, and the good things that HAVE happened. And take us behind the scenes on the Army bases around the country that are tasked with housing and resettling the thousands of Afghans that did make it out. And he’ll tell you how shockingly few that really is.
