RadioEd

RadioEd


Taliban Takeover: What the U.S. Owes Afghans and Americans

August 31, 2021

In 2001, the United States sent its military into Afghanistan with plans to remove the Taliban from power and build a democracy in its stead. This week, 20 years later, the last U.S. soldier departed the country. But what was supposed to be the end to a decades-long war instead turned into tragedy, as the Taliban quickly wrested back control of the country and its people, setting off a new refugee crisis and global outrage. Nader Hashemi, associate professor in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and director of the Center for Middle East Studies, joined RadioEd to analyze the situation through a humanitarian lens and pose the question: What does the United States owe Afghanistan, as well as its own people?