The Taliban have invited a number of countries, including Russia, to take part in an event dedicated to the announcement of the composition of the new Afghan government, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. “We have sent invitations to Turkey, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar to take part in the [ceremony] of announcing [the composition of the new Afghan] government,” […]

Turkey is working with Qatar and the United States about operating Kabul airport and is in talks with the Taliban, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, adding security at the airport was the main issue. Cavusoglu told broadcaster NTV that 19 Turkish technicians were in Kabul, holding talks with Qataris about the airport, Reuters reported. Turkey has told […]

The Taliban announced a new caretaker government on Tuesday evening and said the acting head of state will be Mullah Hassan Akhund. Addressing a press conference in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made the announcement and said the new acting prime minister will be Mullah Hassan Akhund. The Taliban swept to power more than three weeks ago when former president […]

If Washington is going to deter a militant China, it needs the support of democratic India. Unfortunately, India looks like the country most immediately — and perhaps most adversely — affected by the Biden-created debacle. As a result, New Delhi could decide to side not with America but with a Chinese ally, Moscow. India saw the Afghan government as a […]

The choices that NATO, the US and the UK now face in Afghanistan when dealing with the Taliban will involve unpleasant compromises, but it is necessary for Western governments to start deciding on their priorities and considering their options. The collapse of the Afghan government and the subsequent crisis in Kabul constitute a policy failure of the highest order. However, […]

Recent developments in Afghanistan constitute a strategic gain for Pakistan, at least for the moment. In more than 40 years of civil strife, war and instability in Afghanistan, it would not be wrong to say that its neighbours have often pursued their own strategic interests by manipulating the Afghan political field, even at the expense of peace in the country. […]

The Taliban proclaimed on Monday the conquest of the province of Panjshir, the only one of the 34 regions that had not fallen into the hands of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). “Panjshir has come under the full control of the Emirate… Some rebels were defeated and the rest fled,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. This assertion, however, was […]

The US and the EU should not buy Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s fake pro-Western posture (such as when he offered to run the Kabul airport, then fled) or his fake anti-radicalism (such as when he is courting the Afghan terrorists). Erdogan’s strategy, as a member of NATO, is clearly to bolster Russia’s and China’s plans for the future of […]

The recent terror attack at Kabul airport by an affiliate of the Salafi-jihadi Islamic State, the Islamic State-Khorasan, was a fresh reminder that Salafi-jihadis have been regrouping and focusing their timely attacks on soft targets meant to create deadly pandemonium and inflict harm and damage on American personnel and policies. Arguably, the Biden Administration’s warning that more terror attacks loomed […]

The Indian government has been faced with a strange dilemma since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. On Aug. 31, within hours of US forces departing the war-torn nation, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that its envoy to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, had met with the head of the Taliban’s political office, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai. This triggered […]