Western powers appear to be preparing for the fall of Kabul, after the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada all announced fresh troop deployments to help evacuate citizens and other residents of the Afghan capital on Thursday. The United States will send 3,000 troops to secure Kabul’s international airport and mount an evacuation effort for U.S. embassy staff alongside Afghans […]

The situation in Afghanistan—and with it the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship—is likely to worsen in the short term. The prospect of a prolonged civil war or full Taliban takeover now looms large as hopes of a negotiated settlement recede. Whatever the outcome, the countries’ bilateral relationship will continue to be shaped by tensions that have characterized it for more than a century. […]

No matter where the conflict goes from here, Afghans will bear enormous costs as stability looks to be a distant prospect. The Afghan government has had its most difficult week fighting the Taliban since the insurgency began. As of this writing, 12 provincial capitals have fallen since last Friday, marking the first time the Taliban have controlled a city since […]

Introduction As the withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops from Afghanistan is already in its final stages as per the February 29, 2020 agreement[1] between the United States and the Afghan Taliban, signed in the Qatari capital of Doha, the Islamic State (ISIS) has begun to carry out increasingly diverse attacks via its Afghan affiliate, the Islamic State Khurasan Province […]

This is Part-1 of a two-part article. This part shows how peace and tranquility at LAC is sought to be restored, in spite of a rare clash at Galwan last year. LAC was a rare border where not a single shot was fired, and none killed, in over four decades despite it being a disputed border. It further shows how […]

The U.S. will deploy additional troops to Kabul airport in support of embassy staff drawdown as the security situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. On Friday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami said that all Iran’s border lines are secure, including the eastern borders with Afghanistan. His statement came after the reports that Taliban took control of […]

Faced with unexpectedly rapid military gains by the Taliban, the United States decided on Thursday to dramatically scale down its embassy in Kabul and send about 3,000 troops temporarily to aid the evacuation of staff, Reuters reported. News of the drawdown, which was first reported by Reuters, underscored Washington’s rapidly deteriorating hopes that diplomacy will halt the Taliban’s advance and […]

A Ghazni provincial council member has confirmed that Ghazni city fell to the Taliban on Thursday morning following a “secret deal” between the Taliban and Daud Laghmani, the provincial governor. Amanullah Kamrani, a member of the provincial council, told Ariana News that with the help of the Taliban, Laghmani fled the province and tried to reach Kabul. Taliban fighters launched […]

Britain’s defence minister Friday expressed raised concerns over situation in Afghanistan, stating that Afghanistan was spiralling towards a “failed state.” In an interview with Sky news agency, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace stated that Afghanistan could become a breeding ground for militants such as al Qaeda which would probably come back. “I’m absolutely worried that failed states are breeding grounds […]

Taliban insurgents have seized most of Herat, Afghanistan‘s third-largest city, and also captured Ismail Khan, the veteran local commander leading militia resistance there, local officials said on Friday. The fall of Herat, the latest in a series of major provincial cities to be taken by the Taliban in the past few days, has dealt a shocking blow to the government […]