Two days before he was shot dead by the Taliban, Abu Omar Khorasani, a onetime leader of Islamic State in Afghanistan, sat slumped in a dingy Afghan prison interview room, waiting for his soon-to-be executioners. Mr. Khorasani saw the Taliban’s advance as a harbinger for change. For years both organizations had sworn to rid Afghanistan of nonbelievers. “They will let […]

After the Taliban swiftly swept away, without much of a resistance, the Afghan Army and government on the heels of the U.S.-led coalition’s withdrawal from the country, chaos has gripped Afghanistan. Panicked Afghan civilians, desperate to leave a country under Taliban rule, have flooded the Kabul airport. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Western countries are airlifting out thousands of Afghans as […]

Yesterday morning, a report emerged from The Washington Post that CIA Director William Burns met with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul. This meeting reportedly happened on Monday, August 23. The Post article lists the source for this information as “U.S officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.” Yes, I […]

America has reached the peak of its loss of power and authority, a decline that started on Sep. 11, 2001, and that has culminated in the Taliban’s recent takeover of Afghanistan. After this process, it is now a question of how the balance of power in the world will shift The Taliban’s control of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the […]

Praktiski visu 21. gadsimtu ASV un tās sabiedroto militārā klātbūtne Afganistānā nodrošināja Centrālās Āzijas autoritāro, bet reliģiski laicīgo režīmu stabilitāti. Amerikāņu klātbūtne Afganistānā bija liels šķērslis radikālā islāma izplatībai ārpus Afganistānas. Radikālais islāms nevarēja iespiesties citās Centrālās Āzijas valstīs, jo talibi bija nodarbināti ar cīņu pret amerikāņiem un to atbalstītās Kabulas valdības karaspēku. Pirms tam – 20. gadsimta beigās – […]

A NUMBER OF OBSCURE figures, largely unknown to Western observers, have been appointed to senior security and intelligence positions by the Taliban, just days after their return to power in Afghanistan. Some of the names of senior officials have been made public by news agencies in the Middle East. Others were publicized on Tuesday by Pajhwok Afghan News, an independent […]

For years the Taliban’s top spokesman shunned the public eye, even as he amassed hundreds of thousands of followers online where he live-tweeted the insurgency. But days after the Taliban captured Kabul following the collapse of the US-backed government, Zabihullah Mujahid presented himself to the public for the first time in a surprise press conference in the Afghan capital. At […]

A thorough assessment of the situation would be carried out before India and Russia make any move on recognition for the Taliban, which has taken over Afghanistan. Combined teams of the foreign ministries of both countries wold be set up which in turn would conduct a detailed assessment of the situation in Afghanistan. Based on the assessment of the combined […]

The Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid at a press conference on Tuesday said they would not agree to an extension of a looming August 31 deadline to evacuate Afghans from Hamid Karzai International Airport, even as the US President Joseph Biden is expected to soon announce his decision on the extension of the US forces’ presence in Kabul. Mujahid called on […]

The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns held a secret meeting with the Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is expected to decide as soon as Tuesday on whether to extend an Aug. 31 deadline to airlift Americans and their allies to safety. This […]