The rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s pro-Western government left more than billions of dollars and thousands of lives behind. It left behind 20 years of investment in independent media, women’s rights, and civil society. Did Washington and other Western powers delude themselves into thinking this was a winnable fight? Did the news media miss the big picture and fail to report on what was really happening? To make sense of one of the biggest stories in years, we’ve gathered veteran Afghan journalist Samiullah Mahdi, who ran the groundbreaking PAYK Investigative Journalism Center in Kabul; Marjorie Rause of Internews, who oversaw development of independent TV and radio journalism in Afghanistan; and Canadian producer Julian Sher, whose new documentary Ghosts of Afghanistan looks at what’s been lost.