Was the US withdrawal from Afghanistan its defeat or a tactical move to refocus on a larger strategic contest it sees more seriously challenging its vital national interests and security?

August 25: Ashraf Haidari, an economist at the Aghan finance ministry, was waiting anxiously at home when a call came from the Taliban: a commander ordered him back to work so he could help run the country once the "crazy foreigners" had left.

KABUL, August 19: Armed members of the Taliban kept people desperate to flee Afghanistan from reaching Kabul's airport on Wednesday, witnesses said, while President Joe Biden vowed to keep U.S. troops in the country until all Americans are evacuated.

August 17: The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.