The largest number of our guests have been military veterans and active-duty service members involved in operations supporting Afghans or their fellow veterans. Their activities run the gamut from physically bringing individuals out of Afghanistan, to working to highlight the difficulties facing prosecutors, to combating moral injury among veterans, to supporting the translators who served beside them. (Apologies - Legend's episode belongs in this category - Legend is a US military veteran as well as an Afghan American. We have a lot of crossover in these categories)

We have also had a number of incredible civilian guests, some of whom, like Alexa Greenwald, have worked on issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan for years, and some of whom, like Amy Sins, are new to Afghanistan but have made a huge difference for Afghans all the same.

We were thrilled by the number of Afghans who joined us to tell us their stories this year. We had individuals come on who escaped from Hamid Karzai International Airport, as well as individuals who are still in Afghanistan working to support their countrymen any way they can. We heard from refugee resettlement workers, former Afghan special forces personnel, members of different resistance factions, and translators who have gone through hell to help their families in Afghanistan.

We had a huge number of episodes dealing with the withdrawal. We talked to expert Bill Roggio who was tracking Taliban control in the leadup to the withdrawal, and Brian Castner who was documenting war crimes for Amnesty International as the country fell to the Taliban. We talked to multiple Afghans who helped others escape, escaped themselves, or tried to fight the Taliban before they took Kabul. We talked a number of Americans who were pulled into the void, and played a huge role in saving lives from the U.S. through #DigitalDunkirk and similar groups, and we talked with some incredible veterans who were on the ground at the airport in Kabul about the chaos they witnessed, the Abbey Gate bombing, and the moral injury and devastation that followed them home.

We had the outsized luck to sit with experts in their fields about their work that has made large changes in the world. Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith talked with us about their incredible PBS Frontline documentary. Brian Castner detailed the work Amnesty International has done to document crimes against humanity in areas that researchers cannot reach. Bill Roggio honored us with his incredible Taliban expertise twice, talking about the makeup of the group today, and its path to taking control of the country in 2021.

Volunteer burnout and moral injury were really prevalent topics in many of our episodes. It was heavy to sit with people experiencing difficult emotions every day as they processed what they went through during the withdrawal, or talked about the difficulty of supporting Afghans through the hopelessness and tumult that have followed the withdrawal. It was also a great honor. We truly believe that talking about these deep feelings is an important way to work through them, and we appreciate each person who shared those hard moments with us. We look forward to more of those heavy episodes next year.

We are grateful to all our listeners. We'd love to hear from you if you have stories that you'd like to tell. We're looking to talk more about the topics we've covered this year, but we also want to dive more deeply into women's issues, and talk about past experiences from those who fought or volunteered in Afghanistan during our almost twenty-year presence there.

Tashakor, and see you in 2024.