How Do We Make Sense Of Afghanistan? Plus, 'Reservation Dogs'

It's Been a Minute

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🗓️ 27 August 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

For the last 20 years, the U.S. has been wrapped up in a costly war in Afghanistan, initially in response to the attacks on September 11. But America's chaotic withdrawal this year, in just a short amount of time, has left the country back in Taliban control, with troops scrambling to get U.S. citizens and Afghan allies out before the deadline of August 31. So how do we make sense of it all? And what will be the impact on U.S. foreign policy going forward? Sam breaks it all down with Monika Evstatieva, senior producer on NPR's Investigations Unit, and Asma Khalid, NPR White House correspondent.
Plus, Sam talks about the FX on Hulu series Reservation Dogs with co-creator and executive producer Sterlin Harjo and writer Tommy Pico. They discuss the process of writing a show by and for Native people and why they centered on a coming-of-age story.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey y'all, this is Sam's Aunt Betty. This week we try to make sense of the US withdrawal in Afghanistan.
0:09.6	And the riders of Reservation Dogs. Alright, let's start the show.
0:17.0	Hey y'all, you're listening to It's Been A Minute from NPR. I'm Sam Sanders.
0:21.6	In this week we talk Afghanistan. For the last 20 years, America has been wrapped up
0:28.1	in a costly war in Afghanistan. It began as a response to the September 11th attacks.
0:34.2	But then it turned into two decades of, well, who can really be sure? Nation building,
0:40.8	an expansion of Western-style democracy, a counterterrorism mission.
0:45.8	Back in 2001, shortly after the US invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban tried to negotiate as their
0:51.8	defenses crumbled. They even offered up Osama bin Laden back in 2001. I'll be it with some big
0:59.0	caveats, like having him tried in a third country. The Bush administration said no.
1:04.6	There's no discussions. I told him exactly what they needed.
1:08.0	An America state to build a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan.
1:12.3	But no need to discuss. Innocent should guilt. We know he yields it.
1:15.3	But of course, that didn't really happen. And flash forward to now, it looks like Afghanistan is
1:20.8	experiencing the exact opposite. Not long after US troops began to withdraw from Afghanistan,
1:26.9	the Taliban took control of the entire country.
1:30.0	The sudden capture of the country's capital has shocked the world and caused Ben-Lam this morning.
1:34.5	The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.
1:40.0	As we record this show on Friday, we've already seen at least one deadly terrorist attack.
1:45.2	And the security situation remains volatile. Many people, including US service members and
1:50.4	Afghans, were killed by an explosion outside the airport in Kabul on Thursday.
1:55.4	President Biden has vowed to find those responsible.
	...

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