Lawfare: Authoritarian regimes have their own dynamics and incentives, and efforts to influence them from outside must be informed by what makes sense in terms of their own overriding priority of regime as well as individual leadership survival and longevity. Asking an authoritarian regime to take actions that risk undermining—let alone toppling—it is, beyond a
Jamestown Foundation: The most significant question that arose in the wake of his death concerned the origin of the drone that killed him. It certainly was not from inside Afghanistan. But was it from neighboring Pakistan or some other country? And would Pakistan allow the U.S to use its airspace for a strike on al-Zawahiri
By Sadiq Amini via The Diplomat: Nothing illustrates the divisions inside the Taliban leadership so much as the cruel ban on girls’ education, which is widely believed by nationalist circles within the Taliban to be the work of the ISI and extremist elements of the Taliban who are closely aligned with Rawalpindi, as they are
Michael Hughes: Although the Taliban at the moment may not need weapons from Rawalpindi due to the gifts left behind by the U.S. military, Afghanistan needs Pakistan as an export market, while Islamabad, for its part, needs the regime in Kabul to deny the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) sanctuary. However, despite these mutual strategic necessities, tensions
Monica Verma via Firstpost: If they can’t come back to India which was once the land of their ancestors, then where do they go? The fact that the Sikhs weren’t allowed to carry their scriptures by the current Taliban government to India and the fact that Sikhs will soon be an extinct minority in Afghanistan
Luke Coffey via Arab News: Firstly, allocate a percentage of the frozen assets of the central bank of Afghanistan to the resistance front to support and fund its activities. The US currently holds about $7 billion of these frozen funds. American policymakers should explore legal ways to divert some of them to the group’s political
Michael Hughes: The Taliban’s draconian gender-based restrictions are harmful to Afghan women and threaten to undermine the country’s entire health system, two new reports by medical experts revealed this week. The reports come as several governments and NGOs across the world ratchet up pressure on the Taliban to roll back restrictions imposed on women and
Xinhua: What Afghans say about U.S. aid to their country: -“America’s 20-year presence in Afghanistan had no results. All of them were here for their own interests.” -“U.S. gave the aid because of the expansion of its hegemony, presence and survival in Afghanistan. When U.S. left Afghanistan, it took everything away.” -“The U.S. presence in
Modern Diplomacy: After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the Afghan state and the public rapidly declined. The country’s territories have become the source of international terrorism and many global problems. In addition to the economic decline, there has been a rise in drug production in Afghanistan. Drugs are one of the Taliban’s main income
8am: Taliban officials have called the release of Haji Bashir Ahmad Noorzai, known as Haji Bashar, as a sign of American goodwill and a “new chapter in the relations” between the Taliban and the United States. Haji Bashar is known in the media and political circles as the godfather of Afghanistan’s drug mafia. It is