Four years after the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan remains in the shadow of that chaotic August day in 2021 when US troops eventually withdrew, ending two decades of war.
The images from Kabul’s airport are still etched in global memory, as crowds of desperate Afghans clung to departing planes, the US-backed government collapsed and the Taliban took full control.
Since then, the country has been going through a deepening economic crisis and the end of an active conflict. All of this has been worsened by US aid cuts ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher explores what Afghanistan looks like today and examines the effect of America’s policies on its people. She speaks to CNN’s International Correspondent Isobel Yeung who was in Afghanistan recently to investigate, and Sulaiman bin Shah, the former deputy minister of commerce, who is currently in Kabul.
