Afghanistan

Unsurprisingly, the Taliban’s rapid takeover of power across Afghanistan has prompted headlines about a renewed “civil war”. This is misleading, however. “Civil war” implies a situation where an insurgent movement is taking on a ruling government. But in 2001, it was not just the US-backed Northern Alliance that removed the …

If Washington is going to deter a militant China, it needs the support of democratic India. Unfortunately, India looks like the country most immediately — and perhaps most adversely — affected by the Biden-created debacle. As a result, New Delhi could decide to side not with America but with a …

Finance will need to be at the centre of decision-making not only in Western capitals, but also in Taliban-controlled Kabul. Not even the most pessimistic predictions anticipated the speed with which the Taliban would overrun the incumbent regime in Afghanistan, but it was always certain that the US military withdrawal …

Russia looks to the Taliban as a stabilising force in Afghanistan – and this may mean formal recognition of the new regime in the country. During the farewell meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow last month, Putin spoke in public about the Taliban …

The choices that NATO, the US and the UK now face in Afghanistan when dealing with the Taliban will involve unpleasant compromises, but it is necessary for Western governments to start deciding on their priorities and considering their options. The collapse of the Afghan government and the subsequent crisis in …

Recent developments in Afghanistan constitute a strategic gain for Pakistan, at least for the moment. In more than 40 years of civil strife, war and instability in Afghanistan, it would not be wrong to say that its neighbours have often pursued their own strategic interests by manipulating the Afghan political …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he hopes the Taliban will behave in a “civilized” manner in Afghanistan so the global community can maintain diplomatic ties with Kabul. “Russia is not interested in the disintegration of Afghanistan. If this happens, then there will be no one to talk to,” Putin …

United States (US) Army Major General Chris Donahue, Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, became the last US service member to leave Afghanistan, when he boarded a C-17 transport plane at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021. The last US troops thus left Afghan soil exactly …

The Taliban said road links to Panjshir valley are now open, and food and other supplies can now be transported. Soon after declaring they had taken over the valley and ended remnants of resistance against their rule, the group said electricity, cellphone and internet services would be restored soon. “Thank …

The Taliban said on Monday they had taken control of all of Afghanistan – including the Panjshir Valley, the historic Tajik bastion that neither the Soviets in the 1980s nor the Taliban in the 1990s were able to conquer. But resistance leader Ahmad Massoud – son of legendary anti-Taliban commander …