Wilson Center
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Hindsight Up Front | Complicated Legacies: The U.S. and Russia in Afghanistan
With echoes of the Soviet retreat, the last American plane left Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 following two decades of war. How do the legacies of the Soviet and American occupations compare, and what does the future hold for Russian-Afghan relations with the Taliban now in charge?
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![Afghan soldiers in Afghanistan.](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/41997838385_635787c7dd_k.jpg)
Hindsight Up Front: Implications of Afghanistan Withdrawal for South Asia
We discussed the future of the region with leading journalists, former diplomats, and thought leaders from India and Pakistan.
![Taliban Fighters in Humvee](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/AP_21228406321895.jpg)
The Deteriorating Situation in Afghanistan: Expertise from the Wilson Center
Experts from the Wilson Center examine the implications of what is unfolding for Afghanistan, its people, the region, and the United States.
![Image - Afghanistan Withdrawal Continues Apace](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/ntk_kugelman2.jpg)
Afghanistan Withdrawal Continues Apace
![Scenes from twenty years in Afghanistan](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/AfghanCollection_header.jpg)
Ambassador Mark Green in Conversation with Gen. David Petraeus and Sir John Scarlett
Listen to the audio from this discussion with Gen. David Petraeus and Sir John Scarlett. Their conversation—moderated by Wilson Center President, Director, and CEO Mark Green—focused on the implications of the withdrawal for Afghanistan and the world.
![Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at a NATO Summit in 2018.](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/shutterstock_1153073084.jpg)
The Afghan President's Crucial Visit to Washington
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Washington amid increasing reports of Taliban gains on the ground in Afghanistan and of sagging morale among Afghan security forces and citizens who are not aligned with the Taliban.
![Image - Long Time Gone - Discussing the Afghanistan Withdrawal](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/ntk_kugelman.jpg)
Long Time Gone - Discussing the Afghanistan Withdrawal
![On the cover of the report is a picture of a man in a military uniform standing behind a barbed wire fence.](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/AP_2021-04_ORFReportCover_ForWeb.jpg)
2021: Afghanistan's Year of Reckoning
This joint report on Afghanistan – led by scholars from the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Wilson Centre (WC), and Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations – is a crystallisation of some of the efforts of the three organisations engaged in an India-Russia-US trilateral Track II dialogue for the past couple of years.
![No_Win_War_cover](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/9780190704193_1.jpg)
No-Win War: The Paradox of US-Pakistan Relations in Afghanistan's Shadow
This book explores the post-9/11 relations between the US and Pakistan. The growing divergence between Washington and Islamabad has taken an already uneasy alliance to a point of estrangement. Yet, a complete breakup is not an option.
![Five U.S. soldiers sit on a ridge looking out at a valley in Afghanistan.](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_promo/public/media/uploads/images/AP_2020-12-15_EventImage_FromUSArmyFlickr.jpg)
The War in Afghanistan: Perspectives from U.S. Veterans
This event looked back on nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan from the perspective of the Americans that fought it.
Experts
Michael Kugelman
Director, South Asia Institute
![Michael Kugelman](/sites/default/files/styles/square_244x244/public/media/uploads/images/michael_kugelman_bio.jpg)
Read more from MichaelAfghanistan today is a messy, mixed picture. After almost four decades of war, there is no more active conflict. But the country is fully controlled by a Taliban regime just as brutal as it was in the 1990s, and it is suffering through searing levels of humanitarian and economic stress. Relative peace may have arrived, but at great cost.
Abraham Denmark
Former Vice President of Programs and Director of Studies; Former Senior Advisor to the Asia Program; Former Senior Fellow in the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States
![A picture of Abraham Denmark in front of green foliage](/sites/default/files/styles/square_244x244/public/media/uploads/images/Denmark_Headshot_Cropped.jpg)
Read more from AbrahamThe 21st century will be defined by what happens in Asia. It is the source of incredible economic growth and tremendous upward potential, but is also riven with uncertainty, tension, and competition.
Merissa Khurma
Director, Middle East Program
![Merissa Khurma](/sites/default/files/styles/square_244x244/public/media/uploads/images/20230801WC_STAFF103%20%281%29.jpg)
Earl Anthony Wayne
Public Policy Fellow
![Earl Anthony Wayne](/sites/default/files/styles/square_244x244/public/media/images/person/wilson_photo_feb_2018.jpg)
Read more from Earl AnthonyThe United States produces more with its neighbors that with any other countries in the world. More than two million dollars of trade crosses the US-Canada and the US-Mexico borders each minute.