Afghanistan

Why Exactly Did We Abandon Bagram Air Base?

The Economist’s Shashank Joshi tweeted an important observation that deserves to be highlighted. President Biden was either confused or — worse — actively misleading the American people when he said at Thursday’s press conference that senior military officers advised him to abandon the Bagram air base because there “was not …

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Afghanistan Nightmare Gets Worse

Our nightmarish exit from Afghanistan got worse on Thursday when a suicide attack at the Kabul airport killed 13 U.S. troops, as well as dozens of Afghan civilians. It was the heaviest combat loss for the U.S. since the downing of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan a decade ago. Prior …

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Afghanistan and the Propaganda of Infinite War

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s re-ascendance are producing some incredible lamentations about the decline of American power. This apprehensiveness about withdrawal is premised on the belief that the U.S. acts as a force for good and is vital to the effort to defeat the scourge of global …

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US-Taliban ties on razor’s edge. China is the winner

A panoramic view of Mes Ayna on the gentle hills and craggy mountains in Logar province 40 kilometres south-east of Kabul, Afghanistan, where Chinese firms signed contracts to mine one of the world’s largest untouched copper deposits estimated to contain 450 million metric tonnes of ore worth at least US$50 …

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Wandering 40 Years in the Afghan Desert

The Taliban have taken military control, but Afghanistan’s future is cloudy. Assumption that the Taliban can, by itself, effectively govern a nation divided by conflicting tribal loyalties and a partially reconstituted population, with a sharply contrary mindset, needs more validation. Rather than facts, agendas have delegated responsibility for the debacle …

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What is ISIS-K? Two terrorism experts on the group behind the deadly Kabul airport attack and its rivalry with the Taliban

An attack on a crowd gathered outside Kabul’s airport on Aug. 26, 2021, has left at least 100 people dead, including at least 13 U.S. troops. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the coordinated suicide bomb and gun assault, which came just days after President Joe Biden warned that the group – …

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What Will the Terrorism Landscape Look Like in a Taliban-Led Afghanistan?

The Taliban’s recent capture of Kabul has the group poised to take back control over Afghanistan. Without question, a Taliban-led Afghanistan is going to be a hospitable operating environment for terrorists, insurgents, and militias of various stripes. But not all terrorist groups are created equal, in terms of capabilities, intent, …

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Putin, Erdogan agree to strengthen coordination on Afghan issues -Kremlin

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation in Afghanistan during a phone call and agreed to strengthen bilateral coordination on Afghan issues, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. The presidents emphasised the priorities were counter-terrorism and tackling drug trafficking, the Kremlin said. Taliban militants …

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The Latest: Mexico accepts its 1st group of Afghan refugees

Mexico has accepted its first group of refugees from Afghanistan. The five women and one man arrived Tuesday in Mexico City, where they were welcomed by Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. Ebrard told the group, “Welcome to your home.” The refugees belong to a group involved in the field of …

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Taliban takeover may push Syrian jihadis toward Afghanistan

Some jihadist groups facing pressure from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria are eying Afghanistan as a new haven after the Taliban took control. Jihadi factions in Syria are hailing the Taliban’s takeover of most of Afghanistan. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, congratulated the Taliban …

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