For India, the power shift in Kabul may mean a loss of security, as well as a loss of economic power and influence in a region increasingly dominated by another neighbor it's uneasy about: China.

A regional Islamic State affiliate is a major rival to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The U.S. says ISIS-K has long planned attacks on its personnel in the country.

CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward says educated Afghan women fear they will lose everything under Taliban rule. "Based on my experience with the Taliban, you can't expect them to change," she says.

The president told G-7 leaders that the U.S. is set to finish withdrawing from Afghanistan by Aug. 31 and asked the Pentagon and State Department for contingency plans if the deadline cannot be met.

Those huddled in their homes and in safe houses around Kabul include activists, employees of the collapsed Afghan government and women.

What Beijing has offered the Taliban so far is an open hand and a hint of legitimacy. Taliban leaders have pledged to leave Chinese interests alone and not to harbor anti-China extremist groups.

The German military says one Afghan security officer was killed and another three wounded Monday in an early morning firefight.

In a scene repeated across Afghanistan, retreating government forces ditched billions of dollars' worth of U.S.-supplied military hardware, from assault rifles to Black Hawk helicopters.

Host Scott Simon shares the reaction of Zalmai Yawar, an Afghan who first served as a translator for NPR 20 years ago, to the country's return to Taliban control. Yawar now lives in the U.S.

The U.S. military spent years training Afghan soldiers to fight insurgents. Yet in a matter of days, the Afghan National Army collapsed, and the Taliban captured the country. What went wrong?

Filipe Ribeiro of Doctors Without Borders Afghanistan talks to NPR about the future of the country's health care system under Taliban rule.

Afghans have lived through Soviet and U.S. invasions, civil war, insurgency and a previous period of heavy-handed Taliban rule. Here are some key events and dates from the past four decades.

She practiced medicine in Mazar-e-Sharif. She wanted to serve her country. Her story offers a window into what the Taliban takeover may hold for Afghanistan's women.

As the Taliban take over Afghanistan, women bureaucrats are risking their lives and freedom to not only save their country and people — but to maintain the rights of women and girls.

Two men — a reclusive 60-year-old mullah who is the Taliban's top commander and a high-profile, battle-hardened lieutenant — are the odds-on picks to form the new regime.