I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Wednesday, September 8th.

Today, what 9-11 changed about America's place in the world. And of course, this isn't just a history lesson.

The deadly and complicated withdrawal from Afghanistan

makes it front and center news

that raises as many questions for this country's future

as it does about the past.

Our guest for this is New Yorker columnist Robin Wright.

She's also a distinguished fellow

at the Woodrow Wilson

International Center for Scholars and the author of many books on World Affairs, including

notably for this conversation, Rock the Casbah, Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,

which was framed in part around the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.

It came out around back then.

One of her recent New Yorker articles is called,

Does the Great Retreat from Afghanistan Mark the End of an American Era?

Robin, always good to tap your vast knowledge.

Welcome back to WNYC.

Good morning, Brian. It's always great to be with you,

sad as we mark the 20th anniversary. Indeed. And you write that the retreat from Afghanistan isn't just an epic defeat for the United States. The fall of Kabul may serve as a bookend for the era of U.S. global power that

began way back in 1941, now ending in 2021. What's the most basic outline of the 80-year arc that you see

there? Well, we begin that arc with the U.S. taking on the sophisticated Nazi

war machine and the Japanese Empire. The United States proved that it was a global superpower

...