Afghanistan was the frontline of the United States declared war on terror twenty years ago. This led to the US invasion of the country after the September 11 terrorist attacks, where there was a search for Osama bin Laden, and other leaders of the Al-Qaeda movement. The Taliban were dislodged as punishment for providing safe haven for Al-Qaeda, leading to […]

All eyes now turned on 6 important figures who will guide Taliban’s major decisions as group prepares to form government Though the Taliban’s ultimate decision-making body is a 26-member leadership council, or Rahbari Shura, six figures stand out for their top positions in the insurgent group. The Taliban have come under increasing international scrutiny recently after they captured most of […]

With the dramatic sweep of the Taliban across Afghanistan in the face of crumbling resistance from the Ashraf Ghani regime, the wheel of history has turned full circle. In the end, the 180,000 Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, and a police force with 150,000 personnel, besides an air force and other security wings armed with technology and trained by […]

The scene was a familiar one as warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum jetted into northern Afghanistan this week — a promise of bloodshed and vengeance, and no apology for his vicious past. Despite a series of war crimes linked to his forces, the Afghan government is hoping Dostum’s military acumen and seething hatred of the Taliban can help beat back the […]

The Panjshir Valley north of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul is the final major centre of resistance to the Taliban, but analysts say the fighters gathered there will struggle if the Islamist hardliners launch a full-scale attack. Surrounded by the high peaks of the Hindu Kush north of Kabul, the Panjshir has long had a reputation as a bastion of resistance — […]

On 15 August 2021, the Taliban arrived in Kabul and the Afghan President fled the country. A week earlier, the Taliban barely had half the country under their control. Afghanistan is often called the ‘graveyard of empires’, since from the British Empire in the 19th century to the USSR in the 20th, no one has managed to impose their will […]

The Taliban’s recent capture of Kabul has the group poised to take back control over Afghanistan. Without question, a Taliban-led Afghanistan is going to be a hospitable operating environment for terrorists, insurgents, and militias of various stripes. But not all terrorist groups are created equal, in terms of capabilities, intent, or relationship to the Taliban. Counter-terrorism officials are alarmed that, […]

A loss of more than $2 trillion dollars, almost 2500 US casualties, four US presidents and two decades later, the United States, under the Biden administration left Afghanistan. However, the catch here is that it left the country at the mercy of the very group they spent twenty years trying to save it from. At last, the Taliban have gained […]

Local sources in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Saturday said that public uprising forces had retaken three districts from Taliban control. The districts are Pul-e-Hesar, Banu and Deh Salah. Sources said there are reports of heavy casualties on both sides. This is the first instance of such fighting after the Taliban took control of Kabul following the fall […]

The Panjshir valley, about three hours’ drive north of Kabul, has a mythical hold on the Afghan imagination. It is a natural fortress, a long lemon-shaped valley surrounded on three sides by 13,000-foot-high mountain ridges, with the only entrance a narrow road in a deep winding gorge to the south, cut by the Panjshir river. It is a place of […]