One year on: Afghanistan in anguish

One year after the U.S. withdrew and the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, the country remains a nation in anguish.

The big picture: The Afghan people have borne the brunt of a collapsed economy, deepening humanitarian crisis and deteriorating human rights situation.

Flashback: The Taliban began retaking parts of the country as the U.S.-led coalition began its exit a year ago. By Aug. 15, 2021 — far earlier than the U.S. expected or had planned for — Kabul was back in the hands of the group that had ruled with a brutal grip in the 1990s.

U.S. forces were left scrambling to secure the Kabul airport as they hastily worked to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who had aided its efforts over the previous 20 years. An ISIS-K suicide bombing outside the airport left more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops dead.

In the year since the withdrawal, life for most of the 40 million Afghans in the country has in many ways only gotten worse.