Former U.S. service members interviewed in a new documentary allege that CIA-trained Afghan “Zero Units” shot and ran over civilians while helping clear Kabul International Airport during the final U.S. withdrawal, even as retired commanders say the units were essential to holding the airport and completing the evacuation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
New firsthand accounts from U.S. military veterans are renewing scrutiny of the chaotic final days of the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, with former Marines alleging that CIA-trained Afghan special forces killed civilians while clearing crowds from Kabul International Airport.
The allegations appear in The Wall Street Journal documentary “The Path to Zero”, which examines the role played by elite Afghan units during the Biden administration’s evacuation from Afghanistan.
The Afghan forces, commonly referred to as Zero Units, had been trained, funded and directed by the CIA while formally operating under Afghanistan’s intelligence service. They had fought the Taliban since their creation in 2008.
Several veterans interviewed for the documentary say they personally witnessed members of those units using vehicles and gunfire against civilians as U.S. and allied forces struggled to control the airport.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Edward Gonzalez said the conduct was unmistakable.
“They straight up executed people, ran them over,” Gonzalez said in the film.
When told that some have disputed such accounts, Gonzalez said, “I literally saw trucks running over people.”
Retired Marine Corps Sgt. Josephy Laude gave a similar account.
“They would use vehicles, they would run people over, they would execute people,” Laude said. “They’d shoot them, shoot into the crowds bearing witness to atrocities, to war crimes.”
The documentary presents those statements as eyewitness allegations. The information provided does not establish that a court or formal military proceeding has adjudicated those claims.
Peter Vasely, a retired rear admiral who served as commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan Forward during the withdrawal, said he never received official reports documenting such conduct.
He did not, however, say he disbelieved the Marines who described what they witnessed.
According to the documentary, Vasely said “no reports” regarding those alleged actions ever reached him.
The same veterans who described the alleged killings also acknowledged that the Zero Units played a critical role in securing the airport.
Gonzalez said he did not believe he and other Marines would have survived without the Afghan units clearing and controlling the area.
Retired Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie likewise said U.S. forces could not have effectively cleared or held the airport without them.
“They were vital to the success of our mission,” McKenzie said.
The documentary alleges that the CIA secured the Zero Units’ cooperation during the evacuation by promising to evacuate the fighters and their families from Afghanistan.
Of approximately 124,000 people evacuated from the country in August 2021, roughly 30,000 were members of the Zero Units and their relatives, according to the documentary.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Afghans who had assisted the United States, including interpreters and other longtime partners, were left behind.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Seth Krummich addressed that outcome directly in the film.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat it: We abandoned you, because of poor decisions and poor execution,” Krummich said.
The accounts are emerging as the Pentagon conducts another review of the withdrawal and lawmakers continue to seek records surrounding the evacuation, the Abbey Gate bombing and the vetting of Afghans brought to the United States.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Wednesday during an appearance on “Just the News, No Noise” that he expects additional information about what he described as cover-ups surrounding the withdrawal to become public.
Sean Parnell, U.S. assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs and chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Review Panel, is working on that review.
“I mean, the two great cover-ups in Abbey Gate obviously was the lead-up to that tragic loss of our military personnel and many other civilians around them, and then the incredibly inept withdrawal of bringing into our country people who shouldn’t be, or leaving behind many who should be here, and the Trump administration is still cleaning up for that by finding people around the world who are entitled and who really have earned a right,” Issa said.
Issa cited a congressional briefing from a one-star general as an example of what he believes remains unresolved about the vetting process.
According to Issa, the general told lawmakers that personnel had been instructed to write down whatever Afghan evacuees said about themselves and then return the paper before allowing them onto an aircraft.
“Obviously, that’s why we got people in this country we shouldn’t have, including terrorists,” Issa said. “But that became one of those things you couldn’t verify again, even though members of Congress had heard it, because they said, ‘Oh, well, that was misunderstood. He wasn’t really briefing when they landed in the United States. We did secondary work.’ I don’t believe any of that was true, and I think that’s just an example of the kind of thing where honesty was available, and they chose a cover-up instead.”
Former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War Darin Selnick, appearing on the same program, said the ongoing review could ultimately produce criminal referrals.
“But I think we have to be patient because it’s going to maybe take another year to really dig these things out, do the right interviews, find the right people, get collaborative statements, and really find out, you know, with the criminal referrals, what was done that was done illegally, what was done that was immoral, and what’s criminally referable,” Selnick said.
The Zero Units were already the subject of serious allegations before the Kabul evacuation.
A 2023 ProPublica investigation reported that one such unit conducted at least 107 raids over a four-year period and killed 452 civilians.
The investigation found that some operations were based on faulty CIA intelligence.
In certain cases, U.S. special operations personnel working with the CIA participated in missions alongside the Afghan units.
The controversy surrounding the Zero Units later followed some members to the United States.
On Nov. 26, 2025, former Zero Unit member Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly opened fire on Army National Guard personnel in Washington, D.C.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was killed, while Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was seriously wounded. Two other Guardsmen were also injured.
Lakanwal was charged on June 16 in connection with the attack, according to the Justice Department.
The case intensified scrutiny of the evacuation and vetting process used to bring Afghan partners into the United States following the fall of Kabul.
Members of the Zero Units have also described serious difficulties adjusting to life in the United States.
In December, former fighters told NPR that prolonged asylum delays and difficulty finding employment had left many feeling abandoned after years of service alongside U.S. personnel.
Some former members were also reported to have died by suicide.
The new documentary adds another layer to the record by placing alleged abuses during the airport evacuation directly in the testimony of U.S. service members who say they witnessed them.
Those accounts also illustrate the difficult contradiction surrounding the Zero Units during the withdrawal: Veterans accuse some members of committing acts they describe as executions and war crimes, while the same witnesses and senior commanders say the Afghan units were indispensable to keeping Kabul airport under control long enough for the U.S. evacuation to continue.
As the Pentagon’s withdrawal review moves forward, questions remain over whether official reports documented the alleged killings, who inside the U.S. government knew about them and whether the promises made to evacuate the Zero Units influenced decisions during the final days in Kabul.
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