An attack on a vehicle in western Afghanistan killed five medical personnel employed by Taliban security forces on Thursday, a defence ministry spokesperson said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the militant group’s channel on Telegram. Taliban Ministry of Defence spokesperson Enayatullah Khowrazmi said several employees were also injured in the attack. “This morning, unknown armed […]

Afghanistan’s army has reached a strength of 150,000 members, and the number is expected to increase in future, Latifullah Hakimi, Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense, said this week. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ariana News, Hakimi said that unlike the former government’s army, current army is defending the national interests of the country. “An army shouldn’t belong […]

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. Is the international community helping or exacerbating the situation? Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Western countries have faced a dilemma as they seek to harmonise contradictory objectives: restricting the Taliban’s finances and access to the international financial system via the implementation of existing sanctions regimes; and maintaining financial channels […]

This study sheds light on the factors that may influence violent extremism tendencies in Afghanistan. This Emerging Insights paper draws mainly from a 2019 survey in the Afghan cities of Kabul and Jalalabad to discuss attitudes towards extremist violence in urban Afghanistan and the role of conservative, non-violent and/or anti-state extremist milieus in the emergence of violent extremism. The survey […]