Afghanistan
Despite Flaws, the 2020 U.S.-Taliban Deal Should Still Be Implemented
Two years ago, on February 29, 2020, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation representing the United States, signed a deal with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Chief of Taliban’s...
China’s Challenges in Afghanistan Are Just Beginning
The recent flurry of attacks on Chinese nationals in Afghanistan has raised concerns inside Beijing’s foreign policy circles. Beijing has a self-made reputation for operating on an astute business model....
America Must Understand the Taliban to Change It
While in Kabul recently, I sipped a ginger chai at the Safi Landmark Hotel as I waited for Zabiullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s deputy minister of information and...
America Did Not Cause Afghanistan’s Collapse
The Afghans who benefitted from U.S. presence in Afghanistan have been bashing Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, ever since he signed the Doha Agreement with...
Is There a Way Out of Afghanistan’s Economic Nightmare?
In its recent report, the World Bank has estimated that Afghanistan’s economy ‘faces critical challenges’ in which the country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to contract further, with an...
Pakistan’s Duplicity in Afghanistan Has No Limit
In February 2020, just days before the U.S.-Taliban Doha Agreement was signed, the intelligence community and military intelligence leaders from South and Central Asia gathered at a U.S. Central Command...
America Can’t Turn Away From the Hazara Genocide
The September 30 attack on the Kaaj Educational Center in Kabul has triggered a global wave of grassroots protests against violence toward Hazaras in Afghanistan. These protests have demonstrated the...
Afghanistan’s Women Are Still Fighting the Taliban
On the night of January 16, 2022, a group of armed men from the Taliban’s intelligence service entered the apartment block of Tamana Zaryab Paryani, a human rights activist who...
Suicide Bomber Attacks Taliban Ministry in the Heart of Kabul
A suicide bomber targeted the Interior Ministry of Afghanistan headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, killing four employees and marking the latest act of violence against the country’s Taliban-led government since its conquest of...
Nationwide Protests in Afghanistan After Attack on Hazaras
Hundreds of women across Afghanistan marched in protest against an ongoing campaign of violence directed at the country’s Hazara ethnic and religious minority following a suicide bomb attack on Friday...
Afghanistan Is a Threat to Global Security Once Again
Twenty-one years ago, before the Taliban enabled Al Qaeda to launch the tragic 9/11 attacks from Afghan soil, Afghanistan was a no man’s land. Dozens of regional and transnational terrorist...
U.S. Transfers $3.5 Billion in Afghanistan Central Bank Assets to Swiss Fund
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it would transfer $3.5 billion in funds from the former Afghan central bank—funds frozen and confiscated immediately after the Taliban gained power...