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What a 2,000-mile journey around Afghanistan uncovers a year after the Taliban takeover

The war is over. The U.S. is gone. A bone-rattling drive along the Ring Road finds hardship and few traces of nation-building.

An unpaved section of National Highway 1 cuts through the village of Buzbai in Badghis Province, one of the country’s poorest. The Asian Development Bank was supposed to pave the road from Badghis to Faryab years ago, but security risks and supply shortfalls halted the work.
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