America’s Final Hours in Afghanistan

<p>On Monday night, after a 20-year war that claimed 170,000 lives, cost over $2 trillion and did not defeat the Taliban, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. </p><p>As the last of the American forces left under the cover of darkness, there was celebratory gunfire from the Taliban. The moment of exit, a day earlier than expected, was both historic and anticlimactic.</p><p>We explore what happened in the last few hours and days of the American occupation, and look at what it leaves behind. </p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/eric-schmitt?smid=pc-thedaily">Eric Schmitt</a>, a senior writer covering terrorism and national security for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/world/asia/afghanistan-us-occupation-ends.html?smid=pc-thedaily">last American flight from Afghanistan</a> left behind <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/world/asia/us-withdrawal-afghanistan-kabul.html?smid=pc-thedaily">a host of unfulfilled promises and anxious questions</a> about the country’s fate.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit </p><p><a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a></p><p>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>