After the Fall in Afghanistan
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2021
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This past Sunday, Americans woke up to a new reality in the country of Afghanistan—the Afghan government that the United States and its allies have supported for the last two decades is gone. In its place is a resurgent Taliban, now firmly in control of nearly the entire country. Meanwhile, the U.S. presence has been reduced to Kabul’s international airport where soldiers and diplomats are working 24-7 to safely evacuate U.S. and allied personnel, U.S. and foreign civilians, and at least some vulnerable Afghans and their families, even as the rest of the country sits and waits to find out what life will be like under the new Taliban regime.
To discuss these unprecedented events, Scott R. Anderson sat down with Afghanistan policy experts Madiha Afzal of the Brookings Institution, Laurel Miller of the International Crisis Group and Jonathan Schroden of CNA. They discussed the state of play in Afghanistan, how we got here and what we should expect next.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
| 0:07.2 | podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:14.7 | That's patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:18.2 | Also check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:32.6 | The way we have seen things unfold over this weekend was avoidable. |
| 0:40.3 | If this had been done more deliberately, more carefully, more responsibly as the President |
| 0:45.8 | promised, you know, on the campaign trail, even as he promised that he would withdraw, |
| 0:50.1 | he promised there would be a responsible withdrawal. |
| 0:53.1 | Afghanistan is now getting engulfed in a humanitarian crisis. |
| 0:57.6 | I did not hear from the Biden administration's or any commitment to addressing that humanitarian |
| 1:03.9 | crisis over the weekend. |
| 1:05.9 | I didn't hear any wider message to Afghans beyond the people who have helped the U.S., |
| 1:13.0 | who are in line for special visas and even they might not get them. |
| 1:17.5 | I'm Scott R. Henderson and this is the LawFair podcast for August 17, 2021. |
| 1:23.5 | This past Sunday, Americans woke up to a new reality in the country of Afghanistan. |
| 1:28.7 | The Afghan government that the United States and its allies have supported for the last |
| 1:32.1 | two decades is gone. |
| 1:34.3 | In its place is a resurgent Taliban, now firmly in control of nearly the entire country. |
| 1:39.7 | Meanwhile, the U.S. presence has been reduced to couples' international airport, where |
| 1:44.5 | soldiers and diplomats are working 24-7 to safely evacuate U.S. and Allied personnel, |
| 1:49.5 | U.S. informed civilians, and at least some vulnerable Afghans in their families, even |
... |
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