Tag: Afghanistan

The Taliban are losing the fight against Islamic State (Oved Lobel, The Strategist)

In what is becoming a monthly phenomenon, Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan (Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K) has topped all of its global provinces in terms...

Western countries express concern over Afghan reprisals, Taliban reject accusations (Reuters)

The United States and a group of Western countries including Germany, France and Britain have expressed concern over reported killings and disappearances of former...

Avoid starvation: ‘Immediate priority’ for 3.5 million Afghans (UN News)

Launching a global fundraising winter campaign to help forcibly displaced families in Afghanistan and elsewhere to cope with the most life-threatening months of the year, UNHCR Spokesperson Babar Baloch described it...

A Taliban ban on women in the workforce can cost economy $1bn (Eltaf Najafizada, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera)

The Taliban’s move to restrict women from working could immediately cost the Afghan economy up to $1 billion, or 5% of GDP, the United...

Taliban urges US to release frozen funds in Doha talks (Arab News)

Taliban government leader Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund is among those targeted by the US sanctions Taliban urges US to release frozen funds in Doha...

Inside the Data-Driven Operation that Moved Afghan Refugees from Dulles to Safe Havens (Col. Matthew Strohmeyer, Grace Hwang, Lt. Col. Cichelle Macander, Erol YayBoke,...

When the phone rang for Brig. Gen. Mark Weber on Aug. 22, it wasn’t the order that the chief of staff of the Montana...

The Doha accord and Taliban legitimacy (Syed Fazl-e-Haider, The Interpreter)

Under the 2020 Doha Agreement, the US withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan was conditional on Taliban security assurances that Afghan territory would not be used as...

The grim calculus behind Afghan tragedy (Harsch V. Pant, Kriti M. Shali, ORF)

It’s been more than three months since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan and the situation in that country continues to worsen by the day. The ongoing...

Pakistan ‘welcomes’ second round of US-Taliban talks in Doha (Al Jazeera)

Pakistan has “welcomed” a second round of talks between the United States and the Taliban since the latter’s takeover of Afghanistan earlier this year,...

Afghan women speak up against new Taliban media guidelines (Farah Najjar, Al Jazeera)

Afghan journalists and activists have expressed concern over a new “religious guideline” issued by Taliban rulers, saying the move is yet another form of control over...

Is the Taliban takeover a tragedy or a farce? (Laila Bushra, East Asia Forum)

The Taliban’s first stint in power from 1996–2001 was an unqualified tragedy for Afghanistan and the rest of the world. It saw thousands of...

Embracing Afghan refugees is a strategic opportunity for the US (Sarah Dawn Petrin, Atlantic Council)

While helping evacuees from Afghanistan at a US government facility in Virginia in September, I was struck by the excitement of the families gathered...

US to resume talks with Taliban in Qatar: State Department (Al Jazeera)

The United States is set to resume talks with the Taliban next week in Qatar, discussing the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and steps to ensure that...

Is Pakistan heading down the same path as Afghanistan? (Mohammed Ayoob, The Strategist)

Recent events in Afghanistan and their fallout in Pakistan clearly demonstrate that the problems plaguing the two countries can’t be separated. That the trajectories...

Afghanistan: Taliban unveil new rules banning women in TV dramas (BBC)

Women have been banned from appearing in television dramas in Afghanistan under new rules imposed by the Taliban government. Afghanistan: Taliban unveil new rules banning...

Afghanistan’s farmers, herders desperate for seed, food and cash (UN News)

“Catastrophic and famine-like conditions” hang over Afghanistan’s farmers and herders, whose needs continue to worsen with the onset of winter, UN humanitarians said on...