The 8.14.22 Issue

Highlights

1. The Taliban’s Dangerous Collision Course With the West

   After barring girls from high school — and harboring an Al-Qaeda leader — the regime now risks jeopardizing the billions of dollars of global aid that still keeps Afghans alive.

    By Matthieu Aikins

   

2. She’s at Brown. Her Heart’s Still in Kabul.

   In their first year at U.S. universities, women who escaped the Taliban are struggling to adjust — and to reckon with what they left behind.

    By Maddy Crowell

   

3. The Russian Filmmaker Trapped Between Hollywood and Moscow

   As boycotts of Russia expand to include cultural exports, artists like Kirill Serebrennikov must prove they are dissident enough to enjoy a Western audience.

    By Irina Aleksander

   

4. The Art of Disappearance

   Some might hear the music of Connie Converse, who drove off without a trace in 1974, as a haunting record of depression. But what about the liberation?

    By Hanif Abdurraqib