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A Taliban Victory Would Be ‘The Return of a Dark Age for Afghanistan’

Shukria Barakzai, a prominent women’s rights advocate and former politician, shares her thoughts on the U.S. withdrawal and Afghanistan’s uncertain future.

ODonnell-Lynne-foreign-policy-columnist
ODonnell-Lynne-foreign-policy-columnist
Lynne O’Donnell
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and an Australian journalist and author.
A woman waits to see a doctor in Afghanistan.
A woman waits to see a doctor in Afghanistan.
Farzana, who fled her village in Helmand province when it was taken over by the Taliban, waits to see a doctor at a mobile clinic for women and children in a village near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on March 28. ELISE BLANCHARD/AFP via Getty Images

Leaving Afghanistan

As the world watches to see how the war in Afghanistan unfolds following the departure of all U.S. and coalition troops by Aug. 31, many people in the country are feeling betrayed, disappointed, and abandoned. They blame the United States for the violence and killing being perpetrated mostly by the Taliban, which the United Nations said is at a record high.

Lynne O’Donnell is a columnist at Foreign Policy and an Australian journalist and author. She was the Afghanistan bureau chief for Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press between 2009 and 2017.

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