Recently retired General Frank McKenzie reflects on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, who bears responsibility for the way it unfolded, and how the U.S. "lost track" of why it was in the country.
When the Taliban reclaimed Kabul last August, the U.S.-backed government collapsed and hundreds of thousands of Afghans fled the country. Former president Hamid Karzai was not one of them.
As the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan last year, Marine Corps veteran Elliot Ackerman was frantically rebuilding a network of old allies to help desperate Afghans escape.
On the day a U.S. drone strike killed the leader of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, NPR sat down for an interview with the man in charge of the country's defense.
Filmmaker Ramita Navai has seen girls and women forced to marry Taliban members or arrested for violating the morality code. Her new PBS Frontline documentary is Afghanistan Undercover.
The U.S. targeted the top al-Qaida leader, showing it could track down and strike against a hard-to-find extremist figure even in a country where the U.S. has no military or diplomatic presence.
Zawahiri's death places al-Qaida in a precarious position, argues Colin P. Clarke of the Soufan Center. The question of succession will help shape al-Qaida now — and it may prove divisive.
Since the Taliban came to power, food insecurity has risen. Women in blue burqas sit in front of the city's upscale bakeries, silently waiting for charitable passersby to purchase bread for them.
The official rule: no secondary school for girls. But behind a veil of secrecy, women are opening small schools so that at least some of these teenagers are able to continue learning
As members of the middle class have fallen into poverty in the wake of the Taliban takeover, families are no longer able to serve sumptuous repasts on their traditional dining rugs.
The disaster inflicted by the quake heaps more misery on a country where millions face increasing hunger and poverty and the health system has been crumbling since the Taliban retook power last year.
The disaster inflicted by the quake heaps more misery on a country where millions face increasing hunger and poverty and the health system has been crumbling since the Taliban retook power last year.
The hardest hit areas were remote farming villages in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika. "All the village completely is destroyed," said one man, showing collapsed homes on a cell phone video.
