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To mark the one-year anniversary of the fall of Kabul, the magazine features a photo essay from photographer Lorenzo Tugnoli (@lorenzotug), who has been photographing Afghanistan since 2009 and recently documented life in the country since the Taliban returned to power. “People had returned to their jobs, and the rush-hour traffic was back to its usual madness — but much was different,” he writes. “Around the city, the symbols of the previous government had been erased. The blast walls of the former American Embassy, once covered with pro-government imagery, were now painted over with the Taliban flag and a new slogan: ‘Oh my country, congratulations for your freedom!’ Around the former so-called Green Zone, which used to be heavily patrolled by security forces and where photography invariably raised scrutiny, nobody minded my camera anymore.” The Taliban’s takeover has been difficult for him to process: “For the losing side, the long years of death, pain and struggle now seemed pointless; the U.S. promises of democracy and civil rights, particularly for women, rang hollow, as the old order and its institutions were quickly swept away.” Head to the link in our bio to view Tugnoli’s entire photo essay. (Pictured, Taliban militant at a checkpoint outside the former U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, in October. Writing outside the former U.S. embassy in Kabul in September. Vendors sell Taliban flags outside the Central Bank of Afghanistan. Images of women have been painted over outside many beauty parlors.)