The age of horse warfare is over — that fact was documented in clear, gruesome detail in Steven Spielberg’s World War I-set War Horse. That is to say, the era was over, until a team of soldiers used horses to track down Taliban operatives in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. No, seriously, this is a true story.

Chris Hemsworth stars as one of a team of Special Forces soldiers sent deep into Afghanistan in 2001 to hunt down members of the Taliban who were behind 9/11. On the way, they team up with a group of local Afghani militia who use horses to get over the mountains separating them fro their quarry. According to the trailer, this story was recently declassified. Here’s the official synopsis:

12 Strong is set in the harrowing days following 9/11 when a U.S. Special Forces team, led by their new Captain, Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), is chosen to be the first U.S. troops sent into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission. There, in the rugged mountains, they must convince Northern Alliance General Dostum (Nvid Negahban) to join forces with them to fight their common adversary: the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. In addition to overcoming mutual distrust and a vast cultural divide, the Americans—accustomed to state-of-the-art warfare—must adopt the rudimentary tactics of the Afghani horse soldiers. But despite their uneasy bond, the new allies face overwhelming odds: outnumbered and outgunned by a ruthless enemy that does
not take prisoners.

12 Strong is directed by Nikolai Fuglsig, also stars Michael Shannon, Trevante Rhodes, Elsa Pataky, Taylor Sheridan, and Michael Pena, and hits theaters on January 19, 2018.

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