Afghanistan was poor before the united states showed up. It's a country that has, for, you know, hundreds of years, been dependent on external resources in one way or another. No matter how much money you pour into a country over the course of 20 years, you're not going to move it from from a to z in terms of economic development. Laurel miller is the director of the asia programme at the international crisis group.
That’s what the United Nations says is taking place in Afghanistan right now.
Today’s show was produced by Will Reid, edited by Matt Collette, engineered by Efim Shapiro, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices