After 20 years of negotiations, the international community failed to reach a peace deal for Afghanistan. And so, when the US withdrew its troops in 2021, the country was left to the Taliban. The most contentious issue between the two sides was the freedom of Afghan women — to access education and work. In this excerpt of the podcast “The Negotiators,” from Foreign Policy and Doha Debates, Ashley Jackson, co-director of the Center on Armed Groups looks at how aid workers and activists continued to negotiate with the Taliban.