As NATO troops prepare to leave Afghanistan by 11 September in the face of a Taliban surge, a question remains unanswered: why did the international intervenors fail in their mission to bring stability to Afghanistan? Five reasons stand out: The West’s best wasn’t good enough. The lives of 3,500 international troops plus an estimated 200,000 Afghans have not been sufficient […]

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said Pakistan is continuing its efforts to achieve stability and security in Afghanistan. In a tweet, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan had a telephonic conversation with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and invited him to attend a “special” conference on Afghanistan situation the country would organise soon. Geo News reported […]

Badghis Governor Hesamuddin Shams said Thursday government forces and the Taliban militants have declared a ceasefire following mediation of tribal elders in the province. The ceasefire was declared at 10 am Thursday and the Taliban have also retreated from the outskirts of the provincial capital Qal-e-Naw city, sources told Ariana News. According to the sources, the ceasefire will continue until […]

Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries issued a joint statement following a meeting in the format of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group on Wednesday. The foreign ministers stand for the development of Afghanistan as an independent, neutral, united, peaceful, democratic and prosperous state, according to the statement. They realize that peace and stability in that country is […]

The American withdrawal from Afghanistan coupled with the exponential growth of those parts of the country under the rule of the Taliban have caused alarm in Russia. Kommersant’s foreign policy expert Maxim Yusin painted a series of gloomy scenarios. The Taliban could expend into the former Soviet republics in Central Asia; Tens of thousands of Afghan Tajiks and Uzbeks fleeing […]

The lightning speed with which the Taliban has overrun large swathes of rural territories in Afghanistan’s north has shocked locals and surprised foreign observers with some worrying whether the internationally recognized government in Kabul can weather the storm. But the speed of the Taliban’s advances has everyone asking how a group composed of ragtag militants could overrun dozens of districts […]

Russia has strongly warned the United States against deploying its troops in the former Soviet Central Asian nations following their withdrawal from Afghanistan, a senior diplomat said in remarks published on Tuesday. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow conveyed the message to Washington during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Geneva last […]

Britain will work with the Taliban should they enter the government in Afghanistan, British Defence Minister Ben Wallace told the Daily Telegraph in an interview published on Tuesday. “Whatever the government of the day is, provided it adheres to certain international norms, the UK government will engage with it,” he was quoted as saying in the newspaper https://bit.ly/3r4LR6U. However, Wallace […]

Ajmal Omar Shenwari, a spokesperson for the Afghan security organizations, said the nation will soon witness the retaking of districts that fell to the Taliban. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Shenwari said: “Our plan is being executed and soon you will witness the retaking of those areas that fell to the Taliban.” According to the Long War Journal, […]

Former President George W. Bush on Wednesday criticized the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan and said civilians were being left to be “slaughtered” by the Taliban. “Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. This is a mistake. … They’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks […]