We should note this episode was recorded on July 27th of about three weeks before the Taliban

managed to enter Kabul.

It's the abuse of power for personal gain, but when it's really dangerous, it's not just one

venal guy, you know, with his hand in the cookie jar. That's not the problem. The problem

of the government officials who engage in corruption is much, of course, yes, they steer public

funds to themselves and their cronies. But I think even more importantly, they denature the

function of government to serve in perpetuity, their cronies and themselves.

Hello and welcome to Wise This Happening with me, your host Chris Hayes.

I am 42 years old, so I was born 1979. I turned 22 in February 2001.

Which means that when the September 11th attacks happened, I was 22 years old just out of college,

sort of trying to find my way. And I felt, you know, a profound sense of mourning fear,

angst, dislocation. I felt a pretty intense political objection to the US war in Afghanistan at

the time. I think I was in a pretty slim minority at that time. And then I, you know, life has

gone on and I've become a reporter, a print reporter and, you know, started getting to television.

I hosted television show now and a podcast and one of the constants in the entirety of my adult

career in journalism has been the US war in Afghanistan. It's the longest war in the history of

the American Republic. It's been going on for 20 years and now is ending. Quickly, unceremoniously,

you may have seen the reports about how the US basically in the middle of the night vacated

background airbase, which have been a major staging area for the US. There are reports that

the Taliban have taken more and more provinces and are threatening to retake control of the country.

And there's been a lot of reporting about the aftermath of our departure, what it will mean for

Afghanistan, for society there, for women, particularly in women's education. But I think there's

...