Editor's note: One year ago, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the "forever war" in the country. A year later, the Afghan people are still struggling with their daily lives and surviving through the chaos and uncertainties. This episode of Reality Check takes a look at the developments over the past year and finds out the reasons that are causing such situation.

Hey guys, welcome to Reality Check. I'm Huang Jiyuan.

This is not a perfect analogy but think about this: If you rent a house, the landlord expects you to return it back in roughly the same shape. One year ago, America left Afghanistan to the Afghans with the floors ripped out.

According to Brown University's research, the war killed 66,000 Afghan national military and police personnel, along with more than 47,000 Afghan civilians. The United Nations is reporting that 95 percent of the Afghan population is not getting enough food to eat. Half the population is facing acute hunger. 3.5 million children are in need of nutrition treatment support.

Close to a million Afghans lost their jobs since the Americans left. Half the population is living on less than $1.90 per day. Inflation is at more than 15 percent. Basic household goods are seeing 50 percent inflation rate. The country's GDP is expected to fall by up to 30 percent.

When the War in Afghanistan started, then President Bush was very clear: Achieving long-term victory by promoting democracy. Biden said no, no, we were simply there to fight. America comes first. In early 2022, he issued an executive order to freeze the $7 billion Afghan central bank's asset in the U.S. and sought to split it: Half going to compensation for 9/11 victims' families and half going to aid for the Afghans.

Then after the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, the Biden administration announced it will not release the $3.5 billion aid, citing concerns that the money could flow to terrorist groups.

Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CodePink said in an interview that "thirty-eight million Afghan people should not be punished because of a 71-year-old figurehead of Al-Qaeda was living in Kabul. This money belongs to the Afghan people. And the U.S. for 365 days has been holding their money in a New York vault," and that "this humanitarian crisis can only be solved by re-invigorating the economy and returning the Afghan's money to their central bank."

Abdul Malik, a shop owner in Afghanistan, said that "our local economy has been crippled by the U.S. decision to freeze the Afghan central bank's assets. Local people’s livelihoods would definitely be positively impacted if the U.S. returned these funds."

Currency conversion market manager Tahir Qayoomi emphasized that "the U.S. must understand that the assets they froze belong to the Afghan people. The money belongs to our entrepreneurs and directly affects our national economy. Every Afghan has been affected by the U.S. wrongdoing and we hope that these assets will be unfrozen so that our people can have normal lives."

For decades, the United States has been the sponsor of the regime in Afghanistan. At one point, the U.S. and other donors funded 90 percent of Afghanistan's public expenditures. But America's nation-building failed. The regime fell apart the moment the U.S. backed away. The Taliban returning to power had snapped the U.S. into a defensive mode, concerned with the Taliban authority's security policies and its ideological leanings.

And Americans pay less attention to Afghanistan now. The National Interest made an interesting discovery. The Al-Quada leader al-Zawahiri's death, a very important and relevant Afghan news to Americans, was off the top of New York Times' website by noon that day.

Americans are putting their own interests and their political conflicts with the Taliban above the Afghan people. The Afghan people that America had courted for decades are now relegated to the second-fiddle. The Afghan people had paid a heavy price for decades of war. Now, they have to deal with a United States that is less empathetic, more calculated, and willing to use any means to achieve its goals regardless of its consequences to the Afghans.

The war had ended, but the smoke still rises.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)