Abby Martin uses this episode of The Empire Files to trace the wars launched after September 11, 2001, arguing the US government exploited a frightened public to invade Afghanistan and later Iraq. She lays out the CIA's earlier role arming and funding mujahideen fighters, tracing a direct line from that Cold War policy to the rise of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark appears to question the legal and strategic basis for the invasions, and a British military official's remarks and a soldier's letter home are used to show doubt about the war's purpose from within the ranks it was fought by. Martin notes Afghanistan's postwar transformation into the world's leading opium producer despite promises of a stable democracy. Peace activist Dahlia Wasfi discusses Iraq, connecting US-backed death squads and dictators to the later emergence of ISIS. The film closes by noting US bases are projected to remain in Afghanistan through at least 2024, tallying a war with no clear endpoint.