South East Asia

Like other foreign powers, Turkey was caught off-guard by the speed of the Taliban’s recent blitz across the country, which has greatly complicated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans. While most NATO countries were happy to wash their hands of the conflict after a grueling 20-year counterinsurgency and nation-building effort, …

With Herat now in the hands of the Taliban as the militant group consolidates power over the last outposts of government-held territory, protecting Afghanistan’s heritage has become a grave concern for many. Last month Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, accepted a request by the Afghan government …

Back then, after September 11, 2001, in Washington and New York, everybody talked about who could have done it, how they did it and with what means. The only thing never brought to the fore was: WHY would somebody want to do something like 9/11 to the United States of …

Kaboul est tombée et il n’aura fallu que quelques semaines aux talibans pour balayer l’armée afghane financée et formée par les États-Unis durant vingt ans. Pour rappel, le régime communiste avait survécu trois années au retrait de l’Armée rouge. Mais le désastre afghan, au-delà d’une défaite ponctuelle, signe le fiasco …

It’s no secret Chinese diplomats recently met with Taliban leadership. They likely saw the unfolding situation in Afghanistan as an opportunity to support a winning racehorse and gain more edge on their quest to become the new superpower. Incredibly, Secretary of State Blinken said that Chinese influence in Afghanistan could …

At first glance, the Taliban’s victory over the Afghan government after the US withdrew its troops from the country represents a humiliating defeat for America and its allies. This, at least, seems to be the position taken by analysts and commentators in coverage of this story in most mainstream US …

The Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan in December, 1979 and withdrew, exhausted and demoralized, 10 years later. In Moscow a joke had long circulated: “Why are we still in Afghanistan?” Answer: “We are still looking for the people who invited us.” The same is true for the Americans and NATO who …

Kabil’in düşmesi ile Afganistan bayrakları gönderden indirildi ve yerlerine Taliban’ın İslam Emirliği bayrakları çekildi. Batı ülkeleri büyükelçiliklerini birbiri ardına boşalttı. Çoğu yerli personelini bile tahliye etmeyi başaramadı. Afgan çalışanlarına haber vermeden ülkeden kaçan Batı temsilcilikleri bile oldu. Dünya devletlerinin Kabil oluşacak yeni hükümetle nasıl bir ilişki kuracakları elbette henüz net …

“This marks the end of a historic chapter — an intense deployment that has challenged and shaped us,” wrote German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on June 29. The occasion was the homecoming of the last German troops deployed in Afghanistan. Over the past 20 years, around 150,000 German troops served …

The fall of the democratically elected government in Afghanistan is an American betrayal of democracy. The fall did not begin yesterday – it began with the Doha agreement signed in February 2020. The U.S. and other Western powers were pretending hard to push forward a non-option in Kabul, a power-sharing …