August 13, 2021

The Taliban continues to seize large swathes of Afghan territory, having captured seventeen regional capitals so far, including Kandahar – the country’s second largest city and a major strategic target. Pashtana Durrani is an activist for women’s empowerment and girls’ education. She joins the show from Afghanistan to describe the situation on the ground and her fears for the future.

Former UK Member of Parliament Rory Stewart knows Afghanistan and the Afghan people very well, having worked and lived there, even walking across the span of the entire country in 2002. He joins the show to react to the withdrawal of America and its allies.

Until recently, Belarusian Olympian Kristina Timanovskaya was not widely known outside of her native country. But now she’s captured global headlines after her high profile defection to Poland. It began when she criticized her coaches on Instagram – before she knew it, she was being pressured to travel back home. But a panicked call with her family persuaded her to seek asylum outside of Belarus.

In California, wildfires continue to scorch hundreds of thousands of acres of land, all fueled by blistering temperatures. Jessica served as a firefighter on a prison program and faced down similar such blazes – yet during that time, she earned just a few dollars an hour. She joins the program alongside "Breathing Fire" author Jaime Lowe.