This volume brings together eleven intellectual and expert voices from Afghanistan working across different fields and contexts. The contributors examine the collapse of the Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021 from political, social, economic, and historical perspectives and treat it as a decisive rupture in the country’s recent history. The chapters offer perspectives shaped by exile and diaspora, combining analytically grounded reflection with lived experience and professional engagement, and revisiting established interpretations within broader structural contexts. The book challenges dominant external narratives and contributes to more nuanced debates on state collapse, intervention, and social change. It was developed in cooperation with the Afghanistan Forum in Deutschland e.V. and the Research Center Communication for Social Change at Leipzig University and was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.