The Taliban stunned the world with the speed of their blitz through Afghanistan and capture of Kabul on August 15. As they surged to victory, the group tried to create an image of themselves as a more moderate “Taliban 2.0” – savvy on social media and keen for good diplomatic relations with other countries. But the profiles of the figures […]

Massoud’s father may be a household name, but that’s no guarantee Macron will arm guerrillas in the Panjshir Valley. America may have abandoned Afghanistan, but the most prominent anti-Taliban rebel in the country is pinning his hopes on support from France. For Ahmad Massoud, France is the most natural place to turn as he tries to marshal a resistance army […]

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 […]

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 […]

A toddler was trampled to death as a crowd surged near the Kabul airport, and many residents who aided America remain in hiding, fearing they will be killed by their new rulers. On Saturday morning, a former interpreter for an American company in Kabul plunged into a mass of humanity outside a gate at the Kabul airport with her family […]

The Taliban aim to unveil a new governing framework for Afghanistan in the next few weeks, a spokesman said on Saturday. “Legal, religious and foreign policy experts in the Taliban aim to present the new governing framework in the next few weeks,” the official told Reuters.

In the past few days, hundreds of Afghan soldiers have sought refuge in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Several dozen helicopters and planes, formerly of the Afghan air force, fled the Taliban’s advance and landed in Uzbekistan. At the time of writing, almost 600 Afghan pilots and crews remain in the country. Their fate remains unknown. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, […]

In 2020, India changed its foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations to allow investments of up to 74 per cent in the defence manufacturing sector under its automatic route, which was previously limited to 49 per cent. This is an important decision for a sector that is struggling to attract investment. Investment in India’s defence manufacturing sector, which was previously limited […]

In the six months since President Joseph Biden assumed office, the White House has sought to re-assert a set of coherent policies for approaching key U.S. interests in Eurasia: supporting nascent democracies and democratic movements; containing Russia’s nuclear and cyber threat; mitigating the risk of the Afghanistan withdrawal and its potential to destabilize Central Asia; and promoting energy security for […]