A Taliban fighter stands guard over surrendered Afghan security member forces in the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. The Taliban have completed their sweep of the country’s south on Friday, as they took four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling Kabul, just weeks before the U.S. is set to officially end its two-decade war.
(AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)
(AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)
A Taliban fighter stands guard over surrendered Afghan security member forces in the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. The Taliban have completed their sweep of the country’s south on Friday, as they took four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling Kabul, just weeks before the U.S. is set to officially end its two-decade war.
Airdate: Tuesday, August 17, 2021
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has been nothing short of a disaster and tragedy for the people of Afghanistan and the United States.
America’s longest war ended after 20 years when the Taliban reclaimed what it lost when the U.S. sought to drive the extremists out of power for harboring Al Queda, the terrorist group behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York, Washington and hijacking of a plane that crashed in Western Pennsylvania.
More than two thousand Americans lost their lives in the war and another twenty thousand were wounded. Tens of thousands of Afghans were killed and many are in danger now for helping the United States. Women and girls are especially vulnerable right now. Politicians are pointing fingers at who is to blame — but what happened?
The Associated Press and WITF’s democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie are partnering to tell stories about how Pennsylvania elections work, and to debunk misinformation surrounding elections.
