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This week marks 25 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the beginning of what would become the longest war in U.S. history. After installing a pro-Western government in Kabul in December 2001, U.S. and other NATO troops would remain in the country for the next two decades battling a stubborn insurgency — until a chaotic U.S. withdrawal in August 2021 that saw the Taliban return to power.

“During the 20 years of America’s longest war in Afghanistan, we could clearly see that failure was coming,” says journalist Emran Feroz, just back from a month of reporting in Afghanistan. He says the relative economic and political gains under the Western-backed government were undercut by widespread corruption and violence, particularly in rural Afghanistan. “You had torture prisons next to Burger King and KFC and Starbucks.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: This week marks 25 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the beginning of what would become the longest war in U.S. history. Less than a month after the September 11th World Trade Center attacks, the United States launched airstrikes against Afghanistan. The Taliban government was ousted within months, but the U.S.-led war and occupation would continue for nearly two decades, during which more than 100,000 Afghan civilians were killed, according to the U.N. More than 2,300 U.S. service members died. The U.S. spent trillions of dollars on the war and efforts to build an Afghan government and military, that ultimately collapsed with stunning speed in August 2021.

The War on Afghanistan Was Launched 25 Years Ago. It Still Hasn’t Ended.

Today, Afghanistan is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis. Women and girls have been shut out of higher education and face sweeping restrictions on their work, movement and participation in public life.

AMY GOODMAN: Our next guest, Austrian Afghan journalist Emran Feroz, is just back from a month reporting in Afghanistan. His new piece for Truthout is headlined “The War on Afghanistan Was Launched 25 Years Ago. It Still Hasn’t........

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