Afghanistan

The international community is coming under increasing pressure to recognise the Taliban and to unfreeze Afghan funds held by the IMF or to risk a humanitarian crisis over the winter and a resurgence of international terrorism. As Afghanistan heads deeper into winter the desperate need is to avoid a humanitarian …

The Norwegian Refugee Council said some 300,000 Afghans have crossed into Iran since the Taliban’s takeover in August. Some 4,000 to 5,000 Afghans are fleeing into Iran each day using informal border crossings to escape Taliban rule, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said Wednesday. Since the fall of the Afghan …

The stunning disclosure late Tuesday in Brussels that the US is working on a “road map” for according recognition to the Taliban Government will take a lot of people by surprise but it could have been expected sooner rather than later. The US has a consistent record of rethinking its …

On November 7, 2021, three persons were killed in two separate explosions in Police District-2 (PD-2) in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of Nangarhar. On November 3, 2021, two persons were killed in a roadside bombing targeting a Taliban patrol in the Sah Burhan Agha area of PD-8 of Jalalabad. …

While most of the regional stakeholders have positively responded to India’s invitation to attend the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan on November 10, the fact which cannot be ignored is its Afghan stakes and concerns received hardly any attention at the regional platforms following American withdrawal from Afghanistan. While Pakistan …

At the end of the day, these seemingly intractable conflicts can’t be won with just military might, or even by diplomacy in Geneva, but only by building governance that has the legitimacy of the people. The world was stunned in mid-August when Afghan Armed Forces laid down their weapons in …

The Haqqani network has long been the most lethal and vicious element of the Taliban. Afghanistan’s newly appointed minister of interior and acting minister of refugees each have $5 million bounties on their head for their involvement with international terrorism. Sirajuddin Haqqani and his uncle, Khalil, are members of the …

As the Taliban shift their focus from insurgency to government, their most formidable rival is the Islamic State’s regional chapter, which has staged a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks. The latest atrocity claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) killed at least 19 people Tuesday, including a senior Taliban commander …

China’s establishment of military bases in Tajikistan reflects a shared concern with Central Asian countries about the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Tajikistan is pivotal to China and other actors because it borders areas of Afghanistan where there is a small, but active, armed opposition to the Taliban. Regional …

Aref Mohammad’s war against the Islamic State ended earlier this fall when his unit of Taliban fighters was ambushed by the terrorist group in eastern Afghanistan. A bullet shattered his femur, leaving him disabled and barely able to walk, never mind fight. But for the Taliban movement he served under, …