US historian Christopher Phelps, associate professor at Nottingham University, tells us Joe Biden’s “visceral, personal” opinions on Afghanistan have been shaped by his feelings as a father. His son, Beau, served in Iraq in 2009. He died in 2015 from a brain tumour, and Christopher says many of President Biden’s decisions in the Oval Office appear to have been influenced his family.

We also discuss the international repercussions of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, including asking if the collapse of Kabul can be compared to the fall of Saigon in 1975. 

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