Taliban

In Afghanistan, coups and regime changes are often initiated from the mountainous countryside by heavily-indoctrinated and disgruntled young men. These young men, who live in severe poverty and are…

Recent negotiations between the U.S. peace envoy Zalmai Khalilzad and the Taliban’s newly appointed political chief Mullah Ghani Baradar have made rare progress, bringing the two sides closer to…

Negotiating with extremist groups—militant or otherwise—undermines the state's sovereignty and security. In January 2019—in a landmark turn of events—the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted and…

What will it take to reach a peace settlement? More than anything, Afghanistan needs national leadership. The Taliban held its fourth round of direct talks with the United States in January of 2019.…

Editor's note: this assessment is based on a study conducted by the author for the Afghan Institute of Strategic Studies entitled The Fallacy of Peace Processes in Afghanistan: The People’s…

The same week NASA announced the successful landing of its probe InSight on Mars, violence erupted in Kabul, Afghanistan. A rogue militia commander’s arrest by government security forces triggered…

On November 9, the Kremlin hosted representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban in Moscow. Afghanistan has been plagued with four decades of war and conflict. Afghans are understandably…