#244 – Robert Crews: Afghanistan, Taliban, Bin Laden, and War in the Middle East

Listen to this episode from Lex Fridman Podcast on Spotify. Robert Crews is a historian at Stanford, specializing in Afghanistan, Russia, Islam, Central Asia, and South Asia. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/lex and use code LEX to get 5% off - Ten Thousand: https://www.tenthousand.cc/ and use code LEX to get 15% off - Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off - Magic Spoon: https://magicspoon.com/lex and use code LEX to get $5 off - Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Robert's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertCrews22 Robert's Stanford page: https://profiles.stanford.edu/robert-crews Afghan Modern (book): https://amzn.to/3nYL5rX PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (01:08) - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan (15:57) - September 11 (33:31) - Bin Laden (1:09:01) - Withdrawal of U.S. troops (2:01:13) - War (2:12:27) - Leadership (2:28:37) - Afghan people (2:38:06) - Rumi