Afghanistan - The Atlantic

Afghanistan

Admiral McRaven: Public Execution Is Shameless and Ignoble

William H. McRaven

October 11, 2026

Illustration of a chair atop a cracking American flag

A Silver Lining in Afghanistan

Tricia Bacon and Daniel Byman

August 12, 2026

Black-and-white photo of Kabul.

National Security

Another Top General Is Out at the Pentagon

Nancy A. Youssef and Missy Ryan

June 23, 2026

Photo of General C. D. Donahue

National Security

Military Families Once Again Brace for a Knock

Marie-Rose Sheinerman

March 24, 2026

Dignified transfer cases belonging to Major Jeffery R. OBrien, Captain Cody A. Khork, and Sergeant First Class Nicole M. Amor during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, US, on Saturday, March 7, 2026

The End of Human Rights

March 24, 2026

Illustration of a family peering out their window at shadowed, menacing figures

A Failed Test of Leadership

March 16, 2026

Photo of a destroyed building surrounded by rubble

Trump’s Enormous Gamble on Regime Change in Iran

February 28, 2026

An Iranian protester shouts anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while standing next to the portraits of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and late leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

National Security

Pete Hegseth Delights in Violence

February 2, 2026

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth giving a speech with teleprompters behind a glass barrier, while a crowd of uniformed troops stand in the background

Never Fight Alone

William H. McRaven

January 27, 2026

A photograph with camo gear and a rifle illuminated in the foreground and a half-dozen soldiers silhouetted in the background.

What I Saw in Mashhad

Davood Moradian

January 26, 2026

Protesters gather around a fire on a street in Mashhad the night f January 8

National Security

Trump Casually Denigrates NATO’s War Dead

Isaac Stanley-Becker

January 22, 2026

The coffins of two Danish soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan are draped in Danish flags and carried out of a military transport plane in Denmark by men in military uniforms.

National Security

The Sacrifice of the Danes

Isaac Stanley-Becker

January 15, 2026

a color photograph of Sophia Bruun sits on a table in a black frame

Trump’s Heathen Heart

January 7, 2026

Photograph of Donald Trump and a military officer at a press conference

Trump’s New Imperialism

December 10, 2025

Photograph of Donald Trump saluting a procession of soldiers waving the U.S. and Saudi Arabian flags

Condemning Millions for One Man’s Crime

December 3, 2025

Parents walk with their young children through an airport

A Terrible and Avoidable Tragedy in D.C.

Juliette Kayyem

November 27, 2025

National Guardsmen in camouflage uniforms walk down a street in Washington, D.C., with yellow tape.

National Security

Why Is the Pentagon Afraid of the Press?

Nancy A. Youssef

September 26, 2025

A photo-illustration featuring Pete Hegseth's faith inside a series of pentagons.

Photos: A Deadly Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan

September 3, 2025

A man sits amid the ruins of an earthquake-damaged house, in Afghanistan.

Inside the USAID Fire Sale

August 26, 2025

Illustration of a pile of green boxes and blue sacks labeled "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" against a red, orange, and purple background with helicopters and clouds of smoke

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food

July 14, 2025

Illustration of a sack labeled "USAID" on fire against a red background

National Security

What Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Understand About Soldiers

August 2025 Issue

Graphic illustration with a black-and-white photo of Pete Hegseth's face within the silhouette of a soldier kneeling and firing a rifle, on a red background.

Being a Dad Is About More Than Being Around

Stanley A. McChrystal

June 15, 2025

An illustration of a child holding hands with what looks to be a blank figure of his father.

The U.S. Threat Looming Over Canada

May 4, 2025

An illustration showing a U.S. star clashing with a Canadian maple leaf.

I’ve Seen How ‘America First’ Ends

March 26, 2025

A map of America blinks red

‘What About Six Years of Friendship and Fighting Together?’

March 17, 2025

A mom ties her daughter's hair into a ponytail while a father holds their son.

Invading Canada Is Not Advisable

March 15, 2025

Illustration of 19th century American and British generals discussing a surrender

The Secretary of Hard Problems

January 17, 2025

A portrait of CIA Chief Bill Burns

A New Kind of Immigrant Novel

January 15, 2025

A photo-illustration of a cut-out black-and-white photo of a young woman holding a camera, framed with rectangular 3-D lines in a collage style on a mustard-yellow background.

Afghan Women Have Been Brought Back in Time

Bushra Seddique

October 16, 2024

A torn poster on a wall featuring a woman in a niqab and a woman in a burqa.

Inside the Virginia Newsroom Trying to Save Afghanistan From Tyranny

Cora Engelbrecht

August 18, 2024

Nazia Hashimyar on set at Amu TV

Departing Afghanistan

William H. McRaven

May 26, 2024

the Irshad valley in the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, in the Hindu Kush mountain range

Afghanistan Changed Me

August 15, 2023

Picture of a Marine under a tree kneeling behind a smoke screen, holding a gun pointed toward the ground. Another Marine kneels behind the tree.

‘We Are Not Ordinary People’

May 11, 2023

silhouettes of refugees on a bus

If You Didn’t See Chaos in Kabul, Where Were You Looking?

April 8, 2023

A scene at Kabul airport as Afghans try to evacuate in August 2021.

The Next Afghan-Refugee Crisis Is Right Here in the U.S.

Elliot Ackerman

November 28, 2022

Evacuees from Afghanistan at Dulles International Airport

What Afghans Want the Rest of the World to Know

Bushra Seddique

October 9, 2022

Black-and-white photo of two women with covered faces in a street. Several men are in the background behind them.