7 Things About Afghanistan the U.S. Wants You to Forget, Five Years After Kabul Fell

America promised not to forget Afghans who worked with its troops, reporters, and diplomats. Now, hundreds of thousands are stranded, refugee routes have been dismantled, and the country is in chaos.

In this photograph taken on June 1, 2025, Gul Ajan Hotak offers prayers over the grave of his son Shafiullah Hotak, who died after falling from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft amid the August 2021 panic-stricken evacuation to flee Taliban-led Afghanistan. Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images.

Five years ago today, as the U.S. hurried to bring an end to its longest war and Afghanistan’s government collapsed, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul. The images were inescapable: desperate Afghans surrounding planes at Kabul airport, crowds pressed against its gates, the last American military aircraft leaving.

Then, much of the world moved on.

But for Afghans, Aug. 15, 2021 was far from the end of the story. In the five years since the Taliban recaptured power, hundreds of thousands promised pathways to the U.S. have remained stranded; the Taliban has systematically pushed women and girls out of public life; international aid has collapsed while hunger has skyrocketed; millions of refugees have been forced back into the country; and Afghanistan has once again become the center of major regional conflict.

Here are seven things to know about Afghanistan, five years after the fall of Kabul:

1. America evacuated more than 120,000 people. Hundreds of thousands are still waiting