This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.

And it's the right and the responsibility of Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.

After nearly 20 years, American troops will be out of Afghanistan by September.

That's according to President Biden.

Officials at the Pentagon say that day may come even sooner than that.

But in any case, the end of the

Forever War could well have terrible consequences, the return to power of the Taliban. Since April,

when the pullout began, the Taliban has captured more than a quarter of Afghanistan's districts.

And for anyone in the country who opposes their hardline,

theocratic rule, this is a terrifying prospect. Among many things, the Taliban is ideologically

and unrelentingly opposed to the education of girls. Our staff writer Sue Halpern spoke recently

with an Afghani educator, Shabana Basij Rasuk. She's a founder of the only

girls boarding school in the country, the school of leadership, Afghanistan, and it's home to

around 100 girls from all over the country. Shabana herself grew up under Taliban rule,

and she's watching their advance very, very carefully.

What's it like in Kabul right now?

You know, it's, if you go around Kabul City, you could get a sense that things are in a way as

usual. People are going to work. People are meeting in cafes. People are

out and about. But then when you speak with people, there is definitely a great sense of concern

for Afghanistan. Even though temporarily the heat is off of Kabul City, people are really worried

...