What happened after the fall of Kabul
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 August 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been a year since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, during the chaotic withdrawal of western allied forces. Images of thousands of people desperate to leave the country were broadcast across the world. What happened to the Afghan people who were left behind?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Guest: Charlie Faulkner, correspondent for The Times in Afghanistan.
Host: David Aaronovitch.
Clips: Times Radio, BBC News, NBC Today, Sky News, Deutsche Welle, CBS News, CNN, Wall Street Journal, TRT World, Al Jazeera.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | A year ago, the government of Afghanistan dramatically collapsed. |
| 0:09.8 | The few remaining forces of its western allies departed abruptly, and the victorious Taliban |
| 0:15.6 | insurgency took the capital Kabul. |
| 0:18.8 | Afghans are thronging to Kabul's airport, desperate to get on planes and leave the country |
| 0:25.3 | at any cost. |
| 0:26.4 | Tens of thousands of Afghans begging for help tried to leave. |
| 0:49.8 | In the months afterwards, it became clear that there had been fundamental failures on the |
| 0:54.2 | part of both the US and the UK. |
| 0:57.5 | The way the withdrawal of British troops and civilians from Afghanistan was dealt with, |
| 1:01.2 | has been labelled a disaster and a betrayal. |
| 1:04.5 | The Foreign Affairs Committee found the mismanagement of the evacuation last August likely cost |
| 1:09.6 | lives. |
| 1:10.6 | We'd looked on a gased, but then Putin invaded Ukraine and our gays shifted closer to home. |
| 1:19.0 | So what happened to the Afghan people we left behind? |
| 1:22.3 | It's just one thing after another, and it's just making it really impossible for this |
| 1:26.9 | country to have any chance of surviving. |
| 1:30.4 | You're listening to stories of our times and the times and the Sunday times. |
| 1:33.6 | I'm David Aronovich. |
| 1:35.2 | Today, what happened after the fall of Kabul? |
| 1:38.4 | Recently, I met with my gentleman called Zakir, and he very kindly welcomed me into his |
| 1:54.0 | house to tell me about his two sons. |
| 1:58.0 | Charlie Faulkner writes for the times and is one of the few foreign journalists still |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.