Matthew Heineman is one of the pre-eminent documentary filmmakers working, and his movies have provided ground level views of the world not available to many: drug cartels in Mexico, journalists working in the Syrian civil war and COVID-19 wards in New York in the early days of the pandemic. His latest project, “Retrograde,” captures the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan last year, and the ensuing fallout among the Afghan military personnel left to fight the Taliban.

Show Notes:

• Afghanistan’s fall was inevitable once U.S. left, watchdog finds
• Work with, or isolate, the Taliban is a tough choice for US
• Hundreds of Americans remain in Afghanistan, Pentagon official says
• ‘A Private War’ Illustrates Power, and Risk, of Reporting the Truth
• ‘The First Wave’ shows early days of COVID we never had to see