The collapse of Kabul in August 2021 shocked the world. While opinions about the significance of this defeat for the U.S. and NATO are divided, most everyone believes that at least this chapter in history has closed. However, despite these hopes, the reverberations from how that conflict ended have already spread, exacerbating on-going wars in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. A growing instability in Pakistan, the conquest of Syria by al-Qa’ida, and the imminent collapse of multiple states in Africa can be traced back to the Taliban/al-Qa’ida victory in Afghanistan. This course will take a dive into history to explain a series of puzzling issues: why Afghanistan, once a distant developing country, took center stage in global events; why the U.S. and NATO lost a war that everyone in 2006 thought was successfully concluded; why al-Qa’ida and the Taliban won; and what the extremists’ further actions aim to achieve.


COURSE FORMAT
This is an interactive online seminar course that meets weekly over 8 weeks. Live online sessions will use the zoom platform. Weekly reading or other forms of materials may be assigned. Weekly sessions will be recorded and available for registered participants to access throughout the course.
There are no papers or grades. This course does not offer any credits or certificates. This course is intended for learning for the love of learning.

COURSE MATERIALS
This course will have reading materials supplied by the instructor.
Additional materials TBD.
Registrants will receive access to the course website and the zoom links about two weeks before the course starts.

COURSE CANCELLATION POLICY
Registrants can cancel and receive a full refund up to September 22. After September 22, there will be no refunds issued.
Yale Alumni College courses are subject to schedule changes as well as cancellations. If Yale Alumni College must cancel any course prior to its start due to low enrollment, you will be notified of this by the cancellation date. Upon cancellation of a course, registrants may transfer their registration to another available course or have the registration fee fully refunded.

In the event of a disruption to the original course schedule, including but not limited to; Professor absence, hazardous weather conditions, or local travel restrictions, Yale Alumni College will do its best to reschedule the missed class for the week immediately following the original end date at the same course time and day.