For Many Afghans, the US Occupation Was Just as Bad as the Taliban

The Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan has beamed startling and awful scenes into our consciousness: government workers and journalists hiding as Taliban fighters search houses; women being forced off the streets to cover up at gunpoint; a desperate crowd of thousands camping in the Kabul airport, desperate to get out; crowds chasing and clinging to a plane as it takes off, some of them later falling to their deaths. With the Taliban swiftly overrunning the country and fears of an impending wave of human rights violations rife, the once-majority support...