A timeline of events in Afghanistan in the 3 years since the Taliban's takeover

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Here is a look at key dates since the Taliban returned to power three years ago, as United States and NATO forces withdrew from the country:

Aug. 15, 2021 — The Taliban march into Kabul as internationally backed President Ashraf Ghani flees the country.

Aug. 26, 2021 — Islamic State group suicide bombers and gunmen kill over 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops in an attack on the crowds trying to be evacuated at Kabul’s airport.

March 23, 2022 — On the day high schools are opening, the Taliban abruptly reverse a promise to allow girls above the sixth grade to attend school.

May 7, 2022 — The Taliban Virtue and Vice Ministry says women in public must wear all-encompassing robes and cover their faces except for their eyes. It advises them to stay home unless they have important work outside the house.

June 22, 2022 — A powerful earthquake hits a remote region of eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 1,100 people. The Taliban struggle with rescue efforts, underscoring a lack of resources and a reliance on aid groups.

July 31, 2022 — The U.S. kills al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in a drone strike on a safe house in Kabul. American officials accuse the Taliban of sheltering him.

Sept. 30, 2022 — A suicide bomber strikes an education center in a Shiite area of the capital, killing dozens of people, including teenagers taking university entrance exams.

Nov. 10, 2022 — A nationwide ban on women using gyms and parks comes into force. The Taliban say they imposed the ban because women allegedly disobeyed gender segregation rules or didn’t cover themselves properly.

Nov. 20, 2022 — The Taliban lash 19 people, including alleged adulterers, in the first public flogging since their return to rule.

Dec. 8, 2022 — The Taliban execute a convicted killer before hundreds of spectators in the first public execution since the takeover.

Dec. 21, 2022 — The Taliban bar female students from attending university. Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female education.

Dec. 24, 2022 — The Taliban bar Afghan women from working with national and international nongovernmental groups.

July 4, 2023 — The Taliban order beauty salons to shut down for offering allegedly un-Islamic services like eyebrow shaping. The decision affects as many as 60,000 female entrepreneurs.

Sept. 13, 2023 — The Taliban hail China’s new ambassador with fanfare. Months later, the Taliban officially send their new ambassador to Beijing.

Oct. 4, 2023 — Pakistan announces a major crackdown on foreigners living in the country illegally, including 1.7 million Afghans. The Taliban, the U.N. and rights groups condemn the policy.

Oct. 7, 2023 — A 6.3 magnitude earthquake in western Herat province kills thousands of people. More quakes follow, bringing further devastation to the area.

Nov. 15, 2023 - FlyDubai becomes the first international carrier to resume flights to Kabul after a two-year hiatus. AirArabia and Turkish Airlines follow suit.

Jan. 4, 2024 — The Taliban arrest women in Kabul for wearing “bad hijab,” the first official dress code crackdown since they returned to power.

Feb. 22, 2024 — The Taliban hold a double execution at a stadium in the country’s southeast while thousands of people watch.

May 11, 2024 — Flash floods in Afghanistan’s north from unusually heavy seasonal rains kill more than 300 people.

May 17, 2024 — Shooters open fire in central Bamiyan province killing six people, including three Spanish holidaymakers. It’s a blow to the Taliban’s plans to woo tourists. IS claims the attack.

June 4, 2024 — The Taliban publicly flog at least 60 people, including more than a dozen women, accused of crimes such as sodomy, theft and immoral relations.

June 4, 2024 — The leader of the United Arab Emirates meets a Taliban official with a U.S. bounty on his head over his involvement in an attack that killed an American citizen and other assaults. It highlights the growing divide on how to deal with the Taliban.

June 30, 2024 — The Taliban attend a U.N.-sponsored meeting in Qatar. Although it’s the third such gathering, it’s the first time the Taliban are attending. There’s backlash after Afghan women and civil society representatives are excluded.

July 30, 2024 — The Taliban say they no longer recognize Afghan diplomatic missions staffed by diplomats from the former Western-backed government.

Taliban leaders and fighters attend a ceremony to celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Taliban leaders attend a ceremony to celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Afghans attend a ceremony to celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Taliban leaders and fighters attend a ceremony to celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

FILE -An Afghan man walks near his damaged home after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mehrab Ibrahimi, File)

FILE -Afghan children carry donated aid to their tents, while they are scared and crying from the fierce sandstorm, after a massive earthquake in Zenda Jan district in Herat province, western of Afghanistan, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE -In this handout photo released by the Taliban Prime Minister Media Office, China's new ambassador to Afghanistan Zhao Sheng meets with Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund during the recognition ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Taliban Prime Minister Media Office via AP, File)

FILE- Beauticians put makeup on customers at Ms. Sadat's Beauty Salon in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 25, 2021. The Taliban on July 4, 2023 ordered beauty salons to shut down for offering allegedly un-Islamic services like eyebrow shaping. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

FILE - Afghan students queue at one of Kabul University's gates in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Feb. 26, 2022. Women are banned from private and public universities in Afghanistan with immediate effect and until further notice, a Taliban government spokesman said on, Dec. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

FILE, Female Afghan Taekwondo team members practice during a training session in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 1, 2021. The Taliban on Nov. 10, 2022 banned women from using gyms and parks. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

FILE -A view of the education center that was attacked by a suicide bomber, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi), File)

FILE - In this 1998 file photo made available on March 19, 2004, Ayman al-Zawahri poses for a photograph with Osama bin Laden in Khost, Afghanistan. On July 31, 2022 — The U.S. killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in a drone strike on a safe house in Kabul..(AP Photo/Mazhar Ali Khan, File)

FILE -A man walks out of his damaged house after a powerful earthquake in Gayan village, in Paktika province, Afghanistan, June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Nooroozi, File)

FILE - Girls walk upstairs as they enter a school before class in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sept. 12, 2021. On March 23, 2022 the Taliban abruptly reversed a promise to allow girls above the sixth grade to attend school. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

FILE - This image from a video released by the Department of Defense shows U.S. Marines around the scene at Abbey Gate outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, in Kabul Afghanistan, after a suicide bomber detonated an explosion. (Department of Defense via AP, File)

File - Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Zabi Karimi, File)

FILE - Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 23, 2023. The Taliban Virtue and Vice Ministry had on May 7, 2022 ,said women in public must wear all-encompassing robes and cover their faces except for their eyes. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are gearing up to take the stage for Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia, where they’ll fight to sway 2024 election voters on the biggest stage in U.S. politics.

The event, at 9 p.m. Eastern, will offer Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s dramatically changed since the last debate in June. In rapid fashion, President Joe Biden bowed out of the race after his disastrous performance, Trump survived an assassination attempt and bothsides chose their running mates.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

Four years ago, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence met in the 2020 vice presidential debate in what was mostly a civil, substantive debate. But a tiny insect ended up stealing more of its fair share of the spotlight.

Marc Short, who led Pence’s debate prep, still shakes his head thinking about the fly that landed on Pence’s head during the debate, a stark image of the dark insect set against Pence’s white hair.

“On the actual substance you we were very pleased with Pence’s answers back and forth in that debate,” Short said. Unfortunately, he added, “a lot of the after coverage was focused on the fly.”

Indeed, it became an immediate social media sensation, made its way into the ubiquitous takeaway analysis pieces that every major news outlet produces and was part of NBC’s Saturday Night Live “Cold Open” skit days later.

The lesson, Short said, is that candidates, no matter how much they prepare, cannot always control the conversation coming out of a debate.

“She just needs to be herself, and she will be fine,” South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn told reporters at a White House celebration for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball champs.

Jaime Harrison, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said he was confident Harris will show herself to be more presidential than former President Donald Trump.

“Listen, I think if the vice president is herself, she’s going to be fantastic,” said Harrison, another South Carolinian who attended the White House ceremony. “She’s going to be presidential, and we know Donald Trump is going to do what Donald Trump does.”

If he wins in November, Trump, who’s 78, will be the oldest person ever elected to the presidency. And a new Pew Research Center poll finds that about half of voters think his age will hurt his candidacy. Only 3% of voters think his age will help him, and the rest say it won’t make a difference.

The results are the opposite for Harris, who at 59 is nearly two decades younger than her opponent. About half say her age will help her, while only 3% say it will hurt her.

With Harris as the Democratic candidate, Trump may have lost an advantage over President Joe Biden – the perception that he’s more mentally prepared for the job. About 6 in 10 voters say the phrase “mentally sharp” describes Harris very or fairly well, while about half say that about Trump. Back in July, when Biden was still his opponent, about 6 in 10 voters said Trump was “mentally sharp,” while only about one-quarter said the same of Biden.

Harris’s candidacy is historic – if elected, she’d be the first woman president, as well as the first Asian American and first Black woman president. Voters are more likely to think those identities will help her than hurt her at the ballot box this fall, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.

About 4 in 10 voters think Harris’s Asian and Black identity will help her in November, and a similar share think the same about her identity as a woman. They’re more likely to see her gender as a liability than her race: About 3 in 10 say the fact that Harris is a woman will hurt her in November, while about 3 in 10 say that about the fact that she is Asian and Black.

The voters who are most concerned that Harris’s race and gender will be a liability are her own supporters. About 4 in 10 Harris supporters, for instance, say the fact that Harris is a woman will hurt her with voters, compared to 16% of Trump supporters.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet face-to-face for the first time in a highly-anticipated debate Tuesday night. The two presidential candidates describe the state of the country in starkly different terms. Trump often paints a dark picture centered around issues such as immigration and high inflation, while Harris focuses on optimism for the future, promising that “we’re not going back.”

The first debate of the 2024 election in June — at which President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance ultimately forced him from the race — featured multiple false and misleading claims from both candidates and it’s likely that Tuesday’s match-up will include much of the same.

▶ Read more about claims made by the candidates

And both of them plan to say why the Democrat would be better than Republican Donald Trump.

Anthony Scaramucci was briefly the Trump White House’s communications director, while Olivia Troye was a homeland security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence and was involved in Trump’s coronavirus task force. The Harris campaign said both will speak out against Trump before the debate starts.

In a form of political judo, the Harris campaign has been trying to use Trump’s former aides against him, trying to show that those who know him best see him as unfit to return to the White House.

This year’s presidential race is a genuine contest of ideas between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — with clear differences on taxes, abortion, immigration, global alliances, climate change and democracy itself.

Since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, Harris has pledged to chart a new way forward even as she’s embraced many of his ideas. She wants middle class tax cuts, tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, a restoration of abortion rights and a government that aggressively addresses climate change, among other stances.

Seeking a return to the White House, Trump wants to accomplish much of what he couldn’t do during a term that was sidetracked by the global pandemic. The Republican wants the extension and expansion of his 2017 tax cuts, a massive increase in tariffs, more support for fossil fuels and a greater concentration of government power in the White House.

The two candidates have spelled out their ideas in speeches, advertisements and other venues. Many of their proposals lack specifics, making it difficult to judge exactly how they would translate their intentions into law or pay for them.

▶ Read more about where the candidates stand on issues

With early voting fast approaching, the rhetoric by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has turned more ominous with a pledge to prosecute anyone who “cheats” in the election in the same way he believes they did in 2020, when he falsely claimed he won and attacked those who stood by their accurate vote tallies.

He also told a gathering of police officers last Friday that they should “watch for the voter fraud,” an apparent attempt to enlist law enforcement that would be legally dubious.

Trump has contended, without providing evidence, that he lost the 2020 election only because of cheating by Democrats, election officials and other, unspecified forces.

On Saturday, Trump promised that this year those who cheat “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” should he win in November. He said he was referencing everyone from election officials to attorneys, political staffers and donors.

▶ Read more about Trump’s rhetoric on the election

The debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump won’t have an audience, live microphones when candidates aren’t speaking, or written notes, according to rules ABC News, the host network, shared with both campaigns last month.

The parameters in place for the Tuesday night debate are essentially the same as they were for the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, a disastrous performance for the incumbent Democrat that fueled his exit from the campaign.

It's the only debate that’s been firmly scheduled and could be the only time voters see Harris and Trump go head to head before the November general election.

▶ Read more about the rules for the Trump-Harris debate

In this combination photo, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a debate, Oct. 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a debate, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo)

The motorcade of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris passes a billboard in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, ahead of the presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on Air Force Two at Atlantic Aviation Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, near Philadelphia International Airport, ahead of the presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Signage at the media filing center ahead of tomorrow's presidential debate between Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)