Hundreds of trucks lined the winding, mountainous road leading to Torkhum, the Pakistan-Afghan border crossing on Thursday. Pakistani officials say that is because exports to Afghanistan have dwindled in the days after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) take over. But some truck drivers were upbeat because they said the vegetable and fruit season in Afghanistan had helped increase exports […]

Around the Taliban, and in a bizarre combination of convergence of interests and ideological kinship, a new anti-Western circle is evolving, including a willing NATO member state…. anti-Western sentiments are bringing together these regional powers, who are now courting Afghanistan’s radical rulers. The hard lesson learned from relying on an “ally” for critical production, then needing to reshore that capability […]

During a regular press conference held just hours after Taliban forces entered Kabul, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stated that China stands “ready to continue to develop good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation with Afghanistan and play a constructive role in Afghanistan’s peace and reconstruction.”[1] But is China anxious to fill the vacuum left by the US withdrawal, intent on redrawing Asia’s […]

With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rapid victory of the Taliban, some observers have pronounced the commencement of a new Chinese-led regional order. China, they say, will sweep in and develop road and rail infrastructure to extract Afghanistan’s vast mineral and rare earth wealth and thereby emerge as the ultimate winner of America’s longest war. Such projections belie […]

The images of desperate Afghan citizens trying to leave their country, beyond highlighting a massive human tragedy, may become a symbol of the so-called war on terror. Many of those Afghans already understand the feeling of abandoning their homes, because their families experienced it. They know what happens when foreign armies withdraw from their country and the tragedies that can […]

The return of Taliban rule over Afghanistan will have significant consequences for the region and international politics more broadly. For the Islamic Republic of Iran, Washington’s Afghanistan fiasco is about more than just the victory of the Taliban; it has been touted as confirmation that U.S. policy in the Islamic world is doomed to fail. In its messaging, Tehran has […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has asked to address world leaders at the United Nations in New York this week and nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s UN ambassador, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made the request in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, Reuters […]

Representatives of Russia, China and Pakistan have met with Afghanistan’s interim Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hasan Akhund and other officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to discuss international recognition of the new government. A spokesman for the Islamic Emirate said its representatives would work to persuade the international community to recognize the Islamic Emirate government and to prevent […]

The United Kingdom has called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a harbor for terrorist groups. In an interview with NBC on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that future aid of the international community to Afghanistan depends on the IEA’s commitments in counter-terrorism. “What we’ve got […]

The investigation performed by U.S. Central Command to look into the Aug. 29 airstrike in Kabul will itself undergo further review, the Defense Department announced today. Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby today announced that Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has asked Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall to task a military officer — three-stars or higher […]