India’s NSA Ajit Doval chaired the eight-nation dialogue on the Afghanistan crisis in Delhi on Wednesday and said the recent developments in the country hold important implications for neighboring and regional countries. In his address to his regional counterparts, Doval said: “It is a privilege for India to host this dialogue today. We have been keenly watching the developments in […]

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August, it has struggled to win friends. Achieving international recognition and acceptance still remains an uphill challenge, subject to its ability and, perhaps, willingness to meet the international community’s expectations. The ultra-conservative Islam the Taliban preaches and wants to reinstall in Afghanistan could possibly find acceptance among some Middle Eastern monarchies or […]

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan may have averted for now further violence by caving in to demands of a militant, supremacist religious group. But in doing so, Mr. Khan is allowing radical ultra-conservatism to fester, undermining social cohesion, threatening economic development, and giving militants a say in foreign policy. The government’s surrender to Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan or ‘I am Present Pakistan […]

AFGHANISTAN The Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-KP) claimed an attack on a military hospital in Kabul that killed at least 25 people and injured 50 others. This is the latest in a string of attacks by the jihadist group since mid-August when their bigger rivals the Taliban seized power. The Taliban have raided IS-KP hideouts, arrested hundreds of suspected members […]

A Taliban military commander was killed when his men responded to a Daesh suicide bomb and gun attack on a hospital in the Afghan capital, officials said Wednesday. The Taliban spent 20 years waging an insurgency against the ousted US-backed government before seizing control of Kabul in August. Now they face the struggle of bringing stability to Afghanistan, which has […]

Aref Mohammad’s war against the Islamic State ended earlier this fall when his unit of Taliban fighters was ambushed by the terrorist group in eastern Afghanistan. A bullet shattered his femur, leaving him disabled and barely able to walk, never mind fight. But for the Taliban movement he served under, now the government of Afghanistan, the war against the Islamic […]

In an interview aired in the US in June 2021, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Pakistan will deny US use of its territory for “over-the-horizon” surveillance of possible terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Now, there are negotiations for the US to use Pakistan’s airspace for military operations in Afghanistan, but is this really an ally on which the United […]

The Imran Khan government’s secret deal with the banned group will get the latter off the streets but at a price. The government of Pakistan has signed yet another agreement with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after a two- week-long protest by the group, which killed scores of policemen and caused massive economic losses. It has refused to divulge details of […]

With the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this August, the post-9/11 era seems to be ending. Challenges such as climate change, a bellicose China, and the crisis of liberal institutions have crowded out jihadi terrorism as the primary American foreign-policy concern. Even in the narrow counterterrorism realm, white supremacist violence and anti-government extremism are the flavors of the day, […]

President Joe Biden met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and discussed a number of issues including NATO’s mission in Afghanistan and the need for humanitarian assistance. According to a statement issued by the White House, Biden underscored his desire to maintain constructive relations with Turkey, expand areas of cooperation, and […]