American contractor Mark Frerichs, who was held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years, has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday

A year after the dramatic day, much has changed in Afghanistan. The former insurgents struggle to govern and remain internationally isolated. The economic downturn has driven millions more Afghans into poverty and even hunger, as the flow of foreign aid slowed to a trickle.

Northeastern Illinois University has provided 17 Afghan refugees with one-year scholarships to study at the school. 

Advocates for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center were optimistic when President Joe Biden took office. Many are now increasingly impatient.

Two U.S. service members were killed and two others injured Saturday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Our international exchange journalist from Pakistan, Mansoor Ali Khan, joins us with an update on Malala Yousafzai, a teenager who was shot by the Taliban, and the impact she is having on reform in Pakistan.