Talking about Afghanistan, and the fall of the U.S.-backed government, with refugees in Utah and the widow of a Utah National Guard officer killed there

The end of a war will always produce stories, even far away from the fighting.

The end of the United States’ involvement in Afghanistan, with the collapse of the U.S.-backed government and the return of the Taliban, is no exception — and in the last couple of weeks, I’ve written three stories for sltrib.com about how those events have had an impact in Utah.

• I met Azim Kakaie, the first special immigrant visa holder from Afghanistan to arrive in Utah since the Taliban’s takeover. He was an air traffic controller at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan — and he tells a harrowing story of how he and his family got out of the country.

• I met several refugees from Afghanistan who have been in Utah for several years, and got their insights on what’s been happening in their former home.

• And I talked to Jennie Taylor, the widow of Maj. Brett Taylor, the former mayor of North Ogden, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2018 while on a deployment with the Utah National Guard.