The World Bank’s management has signed off on a proposal that would repurpose $600 million of the just over $1 billion left in a frozen trust fund to benefit Afghan education, families and communities, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters. The board of the World Bank is due to discuss the proposal on March 1, with a final […]

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday emphasized the need to continue providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan but also stressed the need for an all-inclusive government in the country. Amirabdollahian and Guterres met on the sidelines of Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday and discussed a number of issues including the situation in Afghanistan. […]

Afghanistan has undergone a dramatic transformation in half a year of Taliban rule. The country feels safer, less violent than it has in decades, but the once aid-fueled economy is barreling toward collapse. Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled or have been evacuated, including large numbers of educated elites. They either fear for their economic future or lack of […]

Despite lingering concerns among some officials in Washington that Afghanistan is on its way to once again becoming a terrorist haven, recent U.S. defense and intelligence assessments seem to indicate that at least for now, groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida are not ready to use the country as a launch pad for attacks against the West.

As the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan grows increasingly dire, Pakistan has informed India that it will allow the transportation of wheat and life-saving medicines from India to Afghanistan through its territory, on the condition that only Afghan trucks are used to carry it. The Taliban regime has praised Pakistan for the move, but will it arrest the decline in India’s […]

The concept of human security encompasses people-centric policies to protect individuals from insecurity that could pose threats to their survival and dignity. Traditional security systems support that protection and state institutions are responsible for enabling conditions for growth and development in a society. Building human agency and capital requires institutions to develop and implement people-centric policies, which are supported by […]

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 […]

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 Afghan Taliban could bite the Pakistan hand that had fed it Marvin G. WeinbaumDirector, Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies The smashing Taliban victory was greeted with satisfaction if not celebration by a great many in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan undiplomatically and provocatively asserted that the insurgents had “broken the shackles of slavery.” The U.S. was seen as having finally […]

For years, the world tried to soften the Taliban’s extremist ideology by exposing them to modernity. As an insurgency they learned diplomacy and negotiation tactics, but their medieval thinking remained just as rigid. Now that the Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the international community continues to appease them, assuming it can convince them to form an inclusive government and ease their […]