Afghanistan

A new UN report indicates that ties between the Taliban and al-Qaeda remain strong and could grow stronger following the U.S. troop withdrawal. Many remain skeptical that the Taliban possesses either the will or the capability to prevent al-Qaeda from rebuilding an external operations unit. If Afghanistan descends into chaos, …

The U.S. pullout from Afghanistan is speeding up, with military planners saying almost half of U.S. forces and equipment has been sent home or destroyed. U.S. Central Command Tuesday said the withdrawal is “between 30-44%” complete and that six facilities have now been turned over to Afghan security forces, with …

The fate of the Afghan government following the Soviet withdrawal is more complex than sometimes assumed. That has lessons for Kabul today. On February 8, 1988, then-President Mikhail Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would withdraw its military forces from Afghanistan. That withdrawal began on May 15 and was completed …

In the wake of U.S. and NATO troops withdrawal, foreign missions in Kabul are preparing for evacuation. Media reports said: The U.S. Defense Department and the State Department are drawing up plans for the possible evacuation of Afghans whose lives are in danger because of their work for the U.S. …

The nightmare scenario in Afghanistan is the collapse of the government and a Taliban takeover, which some believe to be imminent once the U.S. withdraws. Recent attacks show terrorists and insurgents are able to launch strikes with impunity throughout the country targeting civilians, including women and children. The Taliban’s strategy …

India is hardly in a position to assert on the Afghan chessboard… The bottom line is that New Delhi is highly unlikely to do anything that may undermine the US strategy in Afghanistan, which, incidentally, also has an “Indo-Pacific” dimension to it… New Delhi selectively intensifies its engagement with those …

On May 14, 2021, at least 12 civilians, including Mufti Numan, the imam of the mosque, were killed and more than 15 others injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion at the Sharif Haji Bakhshi Mosque in the Qala-e-Muradbek area of Shakar Dara District of Kabul Province. On May …

Without a large military footprint, can the United States help Afghan women and minorities protect their rights? For the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul, home to the Hazara minority group, the devastating May 8 bombing outside a school is part of a disturbing trend of attacks in the area. The bombing …

NATO says it will continue to train Afghan security forces outside the country after the international military withdrawal in September. “As we end our military presence, we are opening a new chapter,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Paris after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on May …

But the US withdrawal is no longer conditions-based, which means the Taliban have achieved their number one objective without bending on any of the key issues such as their continuing links with the al-Qaeda or their agenda to reestablish the Islamic Emirate… Apparently, all that the US extracted out of …