logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
37m 38s

Afghanistan: How the Taliban Won

History Hit
About this episode

In August 2021, Afghanistan's capital city Kabul, was captured by the Taliban. With scenes of panic, anarchy, and chaos splashed across every major news outlet - it marked the final moments of the War in Afghanistan. With more than 123,000 individuals evacuated by the US Coalition and their Allies, Afghanistan's central government collapsing, and foreign citizens stranded - it begs the question, what happened in Afghanistan? And how did the Taliban win?


In this episode, James welcomes Professor Theo Farrell to the podcast to help answer this difficult question. Author of the book 'Unwinnable: Britain's War in Afghanistan', Theo examines where the Coalition went wrong, and if the events of August 2021 could have been avoided. Examining the roles of key players - from Joe Biden to Tony Blair, and the geopolitical state of the world - is it possible to know what went wrong in Afghanistan, and is it possible to guess what happens next?


For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Mar 2024
Supersonic Nazi Vengeance: V2 Rocket from Cautionary Tales
We're bringing you an episode of a podcast we think you'll love: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford. At the height of World War Two, British intelligence began receiving reports that the enemy was developing a rocket weapon. The idea seemed fantastical — resources in Nazi Germany ... Show More
35m 41s
Sep 2023
WW2: How The War Ended
The Second World War officially ended on September 2nd 1945 - and it's estimated that around 3% of the Earth's population perished during the conflict. But what ultimately bought WW2 to an end - and how vital a role did the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki play in obtaining a J ... Show More
38m 16s
Sep 2023
Rwandan Genocide
This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and sexual assault. Over the course of 100 days in 1994, it's estimated that between 500,000 and one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed by Hutu extremists in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Sparked by longstandi ... Show More
54m 30s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
The Rise of the Taliban
<p>Is it possible that the Taliban of today are more fanatical than before? American and Coalition troops recently fought a bitter, 20-year war against them following the seismic events of 9/11. On August the 15th we mark the end of that conflict, two years after the last Western ... Show More
25m 28s
Aug 2021
The Fall of Afghanistan
<p><i>This episode contains strong language. </i></p><p>On Sunday, the president of Afghanistan fled the country; the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the capital; and the American-backed government collapsed.</p><p>One outspoken critic of the Taliban — a 33-year-old Kabul reside ... Show More
23m 52s
Apr 2024
An Untold Story in Afghanistan
They were scenes of utter desperation and chaos: thousands of Afghans crowded outside Kabul’s airport, as American troops withdrew and the Taliban swept the country in August 2021. In a congressional hearing last month, former Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley blamed the ... Show More
59m 2s
Jun 2023
Who's Afraid of the Taliban? with Ahmed-Waleed Kakar
For twenty years, the United States fought an unwinnable and ultimately self-defeating war in Afghanistan – only to withdraw in a humiliating way in 2021. The conflict ended what many saw to be a colonial enterprise. We explore that war, where it leaves Afghanistan, the region's ... Show More
1h 8m
Aug 2021
America’s Miscalculations, Afghanistan’s Collapse
<p>The last few days in Afghanistan have been chaotic as the Taliban retake control of the country.</p><p>The debacle can be traced to a number of assumptions that guided the execution of the U.S. withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.</p><p>How could those assumpt ... Show More
23m 58s
Sep 2021
Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban
How did a small group of Islamic students go from local vigilantes to one of the most infamous and enigmatic forces in the world? The Taliban is a name that has haunted the American imagination since 2001. The scenes of the group's brutality repeatedly played in the Western media ... Show More
53m 48s