The future of Afghanistan remains deeply uncertain – mostly because the Taliban have not decided what path they will chart for their new government, as Crisis Group expert Graeme Smith discovered in Kabul. The Taliban are still finding their way around Kabul, the capital they took with the rest of Afghanistan last summer, and some of the former insurgents look […]

An international human rights defender is urging the United Nations to “reconceptualize” its travel ban on the leadership of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to pressure them into respecting rights of all Afghans, particularly women and girls. Human Rights Watch said in a statement Thursday that “a grave human rights crisis has been unfolding” in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the […]

Pakistan continues to reel from uncertainty as its political transition — ill-timed during a period of domestic and global economic tumult — has yet to consolidate. Political volatility during the new governing coalition’s first two months in power has led to policy paralysis. But this paralysis has begun to ease as the army has signaled support for the government and […]

Qatar’s National Security Adviser Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Misnad reaffirmed Doha’s commitment to cooperate with Afghanistan in political, economic and social areas as he visited Kabul on Thursday. In his meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy prime minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Al-Misnad expressed his satisfaction over the rule of IEA in Afghanistan, according to an IEA […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, has thanked Russia for maintaining “friendly relations” with IEA over the past two decades. Speaking in a ceremony held on the occasion of the National Day of the Russian Federation at the Russian Embassy in Kabul, Stanikzai also suggested that Russia’s political support for the […]

Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced a $30 million grant to support the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF). Operated under the umbrella of the Islamic Development Bank in coordination with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the AHTF grant will be provided through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and the Saudi Fund for Development. Dr. Samer Al-Jetaily, KSrelief’s director […]