The Taliban stunned the world with the speed of their blitz through Afghanistan and capture of Kabul on August 15. As they surged to victory, the group tried to create an image of themselves as a more moderate “Taliban 2.0” – savvy on social media and keen for good diplomatic relations with other countries. But the profiles of the figures […]

The scene was a familiar one as warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum jetted into northern Afghanistan this week — a promise of bloodshed and vengeance, and no apology for his vicious past. Despite a series of war crimes linked to his forces, the Afghan government is hoping Dostum’s military acumen and seething hatred of the Taliban can help beat back the […]

Massoud’s father may be a household name, but that’s no guarantee Macron will arm guerrillas in the Panjshir Valley. America may have abandoned Afghanistan, but the most prominent anti-Taliban rebel in the country is pinning his hopes on support from France. For Ahmad Massoud, France is the most natural place to turn as he tries to marshal a resistance army […]

The Panjshir Valley north of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul is the final major centre of resistance to the Taliban, but analysts say the fighters gathered there will struggle if the Islamist hardliners launch a full-scale attack. Surrounded by the high peaks of the Hindu Kush north of Kabul, the Panjshir has long had a reputation as a bastion of resistance — […]

On 15 August 2021, the Taliban arrived in Kabul and the Afghan President fled the country. A week earlier, the Taliban barely had half the country under their control. Afghanistan is often called the ‘graveyard of empires’, since from the British Empire in the 19th century to the USSR in the 20th, no one has managed to impose their will […]

The Taliban’s recent capture of Kabul has the group poised to take back control over Afghanistan. Without question, a Taliban-led Afghanistan is going to be a hospitable operating environment for terrorists, insurgents, and militias of various stripes. But not all terrorist groups are created equal, in terms of capabilities, intent, or relationship to the Taliban. Counter-terrorism officials are alarmed that, […]

A loss of more than $2 trillion dollars, almost 2500 US casualties, four US presidents and two decades later, the United States, under the Biden administration left Afghanistan. However, the catch here is that it left the country at the mercy of the very group they spent twenty years trying to save it from. At last, the Taliban have gained […]

Local sources in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Saturday said that public uprising forces had retaken three districts from Taliban control. The districts are Pul-e-Hesar, Banu and Deh Salah. Sources said there are reports of heavy casualties on both sides. This is the first instance of such fighting after the Taliban took control of Kabul following the fall […]

The Panjshir valley, about three hours’ drive north of Kabul, has a mythical hold on the Afghan imagination. It is a natural fortress, a long lemon-shaped valley surrounded on three sides by 13,000-foot-high mountain ridges, with the only entrance a narrow road in a deep winding gorge to the south, cut by the Panjshir river. It is a place of […]

A toddler was trampled to death as a crowd surged near the Kabul airport, and many residents who aided America remain in hiding, fearing they will be killed by their new rulers. On Saturday morning, a former interpreter for an American company in Kabul plunged into a mass of humanity outside a gate at the Kabul airport with her family […]