In the summer after the fall of Afghanistan, I received an invitation to speak at CIA headquarters. I used to work as a paramilitary officer at the Agency and a former colleague of mine attended the discussion. Afterward we went back to his office to catch up over a drink. The two of us had once advised the CIA-backed Counter Terrorist Pursuit Teams in Afghanistan. At their height, the CTPTs numbered in the tens of thousands. During the fall of Kabul, they played an outsized role in bringing any semblance of order to the evacuation after the government and national army dissolved.