Afghanistan

One major pillar of the international community’s engagement over the past two decades centered on strengthening subnational governance. After 20 years of an ambitious, costly international state-building effort, the government of Afghanistan collapsed in the summer of 2021 in a matter of weeks. The Afghan security forces’ remarkably rapid defeat …

Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis urgently demands solutions to a ‘liquidity trap,’ stifled trade and blocked bank transfers. The U.S. government needs to urgently prioritize saving Afghan lives, meeting basic human needs and stemming the free-fall of the Afghan economy. The unprecedented evacuation of some 100,000 people from Kabul airport in August …

The US withdrawal may have spurred Iraq to consider purchases from Turkey and Pakistan, according to report by the Pentagon’s Inspector General. The United States and NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer may have encouraged Iraq’s government to consider weapons purchases from Turkey and Pakistan, according to an unclassified US …

In fact, if the Heartland were to succeed in joining the Rimland, the maritime superiority of the United States and more generally of the thalassocratic powers would be over. At that point, the U.S. would only have to shift all its military weight to the Indo-Pacific region and unleash a …

The increasingly close bilateral relationship between China and Russia is one of the most interesting, consequential, and surprising geopolitical developments since the end of the Cold War. Beijing and Moscow — once bitter adversaries — now cooperate on military issues, cyber security, high technology, and in outer space, among other …

There are growing concerns that Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) could set its sights on targets outside of Afghanistan, launching attacks throughout the region or possibly even in the West. The recruitment of disenchanted former security force members, coupled with hardened jihadists released from prison, is reminiscent of a pattern that …

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. …