Great points overall. I would argue that Kabul itself changed under the American occupation. It turned into a cosmopolitan city while the rest of the nation languished and suffered tremendously from 20 years of constant war.

You may be interested in this excellent interview with a long time correspondent who spent a lot of time watching and reporting on just how much rural Afghanis have suffered under U.S. policy:

Aleem: What is the biggest thing you've seen American media get wrong about what's been happening in Afghanistan over the last few weeks?

Gopal: Well, it's actually the same thing that they've gotten wrong for the last 20 years, which is that there's actually two Afghanistans: There's the rural Afghanistan, and there's the urban Afghanistan.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/biden-s-afghanistan-withdrawal-could-ve-gone-so-differently-n1278163