Last week saw the final American soldier leave Afghanistan and the Taliban were glad to see him go. The future there is uncertain but with its troubled history of serial regime change, it would seem that for many Afghans, it’s business as usual. Lots of questions remain unanswered, including the claim that the US military knew of one of the airport bombers: A drone was locked on the man, but permission to fire was denied, for fear of Taliban reprisals.

The spin to mitigate the fallout from the tragic events surrounding the US exit has begun. In a strangely familiar scene, news outlets are reporting that President Biden made a phone call to Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani in July. In a leaked transcript of the call, President Biden told Ghani that the “perception” that the Taliban was winning needed to change. President Biden offered conditional air support for Ghani’s cooperation. It would seem we can remember another President who made a similar deal and was impeached for it…

Visual Capitalist made a map of Afghanistan, with heaps of information about the country and its people.