Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed in the 2011 uprising, but several of his family members survived. Nearly a decade on from the dictator's gruesome slaying, what has happened to them?

On Sunday, Gadhafi's third son, Saadi, was released from a prison in Tripoli, three years after he was acquitted over the murder of a football coach while still accused of shooting protesters during the revolution.  

With Morocco going to the polls on Wednesday, here are some milestones in the more than two-decade reign of King Mohammed VI.

- 1999: Breaks with father -

Twenty years after the September 11 attacks, the US "war on terror" is still being fought on a piece of hilly scrubland in southeast Cuba known as Guantanamo Bay.

Within months of the attacks, the United States rounded up hundreds of people with suspected ties to perpetrator Al-Qaeda and dropped them in the US naval base.

Two Israeli men who lost close relatives in sectarian mob violence, one Jewish and one Arab, have bonded in grief -- but their contrasting pursuits of justice highlight a deep divide.

Both are mourning loved ones who were killed in the mixed city of Lod during the spasm of inter-communal unrest that tore through Israel during the latest Gaza war. 

Ask anyone old enough to remember travel before Sept. 11, 2001, and you're likely to get a gauzy recollection of what flying was like.

There was security screening, but it wasn't anywhere near as intrusive. There were no long checkpoint lines. Passengers and their families could walk right to the gate together, postponing goodbye hugs until the last possible moment. Overall, an airport experience meant far less stress.

The historic Khan al-Harir souk in war-torn Syria's erstwhile economic capital of Aleppo has reopened following restoration work, but much of the former workforce that energized it remains exiled.

"Reconstruction works are done and this is great, but it's not enough," said Ahmed al-Shib, a 55-year-old textile merchant who had hoped to pass his business onto his sons.

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to destroy al-Qaida, remove the Taliban from power and remake the nation. On Aug. 30, 2021, the U.S. completed a pullout of troops from Afghanistan, providing an uncertain punctuation mark to two decades of conflict.

For the past 11 years I have closely followed the post-9/11 conflicts for the Costs of War Project, an initiative that brings together more than 50 scholars, physicians and legal and human rights experts to provide an account of the human, economic, budgetary and political costs and consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

- Op-ed by U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi:

"Over the last few years, Lebanon has been through immense challenges that have left no segment of its society unscathed. The country has been challenged by economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Port of Beirut explosion, environmental disasters and prolonged political deadlock. These challenges have crippled Lebanon, obstructed its development and decimated its capacity to cope. To top it all off, in climate change Lebanon faces another challenge: a threat multiplier that will intensify current predicaments, and one that requires resolute action by the government and the people, both in the short-term and well into the future.

Driving back to base after firing rockets toward Israeli positions from a border area last month, a group of Hizbullah fighters was accosted by angry villagers who smashed their vehicles' windshields and held them up briefly.

It was a rare incident of defiance that suggested many in Lebanon would not tolerate actions by the powerful group that risk triggering a new war with Israel.

The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised. To Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, a key to understanding what is happening now – and what might take place next – is looking at the past and how the Taliban came to prominence. Below is an edited version of a conversation he had with editor Gemma Ware for our podcast, The Conversation Weekly.

How far back do you trace the Taliban's origins?