Monday on Political Rewind: Georgians awoke this morning to news of the swift collapse of the government of Afghanistan. The end of the war now presents a humanitarian crisis. It has also become a raging partisan political matter, sure to play a role in the 2022 election cycle.
In a sudden, final offensive, the Taliban pushed into Kabul, as Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president left the country and U.S. diplomatic personnel beat a quick retreat from the embassy compound.
As Taliban forces continue a sweeping offensive and are nearing the capital, trust in Afghanistan's government is dwindling despite the Afghan president's vow to prevent further instability.
It's not clear if the Taliban will be able to seize control of the entire country, but the speed of their advance has many inside and outside the country alarmed at the prospect.
About 80% of those affected by the Taliban offensive are women and children, according to the U.N. The situation has "all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe," one official said.
A memo obtained by NPR lays out the emergency preparations being made by American diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul — including the destruction of sensitive documents and computers.
Journalist Peter Bergen visited bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, before it was demolished. His new book, The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, draws on materials seized in the raid.
The prospect of a Taliban takeover has people inside and outside Afghanistan worried about a return to an oppressive past. As the U.S. nears a full withdrawal, those fears are rapidly growing.
Every day of Lyla Kohistany's life, her native country was at war. But the first time she really saw the place, she was a 25-year-old U.S. Navy intelligence officer.
The 38-year-old journalist, who worked for the Reuters news agency, died in southern Afghanistan during a clash between Taliban militiamen and Afghan troops with whom he was embedded.
The U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was created to hold people captured in Afghanistan and the broader war on terror. As the U.S. pulls out of Afghanistan, what happens to its detainees?
President Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan despite the Taliban gaining power and threatening the Afghan government.
