Zainab filled all the forms for a special immigrant visa but now can only watch as the Americans leave Afghanistan. Eight thousand miles away, all her husband can do is hope.

The insurgents' every action is being watched closely. They insist they have changed and won't impose the same restrictions they did when they last ruled, but many remain skeptical.

Australia's most populous state reported a record 633 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday as concerns grew about the delta variant's spread beyond Sydney. Three people died on Tuesday.

President Biden gave the order last week to send U.S. troops into Afghanistan as it became clear the Taliban were overrunning Afghan government forces on their way to taking the capital of Kabul.

The Pentagon has set a goal of evacuating 9,000 people a day from the country. Those coming to the U.S. need assistance, as do those remaining in Afghanistan.

Mahbooba Seraj, founder of the Afghan Women's Network, has a message for Americans watching what's happening in Afghanistan.

"I am not safe," a former high-ranking Afghan official texts from a hidden location, saying the Taliban have sent killers after them.

The U.S. government's goals frequently shifted, creating "20 one-year reconstruction efforts, rather than one 20-year effort," an inspector general's report says.

A journalist based in Afghanistan's capital said Tuesday is better than the day before, with some signs of normalcy, even as the future of the country and many of its citizens is in limbo.

The disorganization and confusion of President Biden's full U.S. withdrawal of Afghanistan have put him in a political hole.

It's been two decades since the Taliban had full control of Afghanistan. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly spoke to historian Carter Malkasian about who's running the Taliban now — and who's funding them.

Speaking about the Taliban's ousting of the U.S.-backed Afghan government, Biden acknowledged, "The truth is this did unfold more quickly than we anticipated."

The Afghan interpreter still suffers from injuries he got during the nine years he worked with the U.S. His children are terrified: "The bad guy is going to come and is going to kill you, then us."

The simple question of whether the U.S. should stay or go was not simple at all. Now Biden's determination to leave Afghanistan has resulted in a bigger mess than he bargained for.

NPR speaks with John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, about how the U.S. military and Afghan government arrived at this point.