The chaotic situation in Afghanistan is a major concern for all neighboring countries, including Iran. Hamidreza Azizi, an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, analyzes Tehran's relationship with the Taliban.
On August 15, Taliban militants entered the outskirts of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It was the worst thing that could have happened to former Afghan employees of foreign institutions, women and civil rights defenders, religious and ethnic minorities, local journalists and even ordinary...
September 11, 2001, is internationally recognized as a date associated with terrorism and mass murder by al-Qaeda militants based in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Yet the current situation in the country means that September 11, 2021, could see another tragedy: the ethnic cleansing of the Hazara...
The security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating dramatically. The Taliban have captured the country’s border crossing to Tajikistan. Prospects of civil war have risen. Even as the US withdrawal gains momentum, Afghan leaders are visiting Washington to meet President Joe Biden on June...
Everyone has a different doomsday scenario for Afghanistan once US and NATO troops withdraw by September 11. The Taliban will take over and reimpose their repressive social agenda. Al-Qaeda will multiply rapidly and again become a global threat. Rival warlords will split apart the country. Another...
Afghanistan is at a critical stage in its decades-long conflict. A combination of factors has led to a deterioration of the country’s security. These include political corruption, dysfunctional institutions, patron-clientelism and social instability. Violence has intensified in recent years,...
Having harbored al-Qaeda militants, the Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 was toppled by the US following the 9/11 attacks in the US. In 2003, the Taliban reorganized and began their insurgency against the Afghan government and NATO forces. Since then, despite national and...
The intra-Afghan conference held in Qatar on July 7-8 is the latest development in the ongoing peace talks convened since January, which have been led by the US special envoy for reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad. Yet it remains unclear what the Taliban's post-peace settlement vision, policies,...
In this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to Shukria Dellawar, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. Afghanistan has experienced difficult days in its modern history. From 1996 to 2001, it was ruled by the totalitarian Taliban regime. The Taliban are a...
In Afghanistan, political pundits are putting pressure on the public instead of the government. Since 2014, when the highly suspect election process saw the formation of the Afghan National Unity Government (NUG), the media has become a battleground for the opposing political camps of President...
A modest increase in US troop numbers is unlikely to reverse worsening insecurity in Afghanistan in the coming year. Afghanistan has experienced a violent 2017, with the government continuing to steadily lose territory to the Taliban. According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan...
Trump applies the rules of his golf game to foreign policy. Donald Trump loves to play golf. So far, he has teed off twice as many times as Barack Obama had at the same point in his term. Indeed, Trump has spent as much as 20% of his presidency at various golf clubs. This despite the...
In this guest edition of The Interview, Vishal Manve talks to Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International’s regional director for South Asia. Under the Trump administration, the focus on South and East Asia has increased significantly. From threatening North Korea and meeting Chinese President Xi...
Photojournalist Paula Bronstein unveils the ongoing stigma against women in Afghanistan. Once upon a time, Afghanistan was considered to be progressive compared to its neighboring countries. But in recent decades, it has taken a dramatic shift toward conservative Islam. In the 1960s and 1970s,...
