President Joe Biden’s decision to press ahead with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has prompted the first major foreign policy crisis of his presidency. The harrowing pictures after the bombing attack at Kabul airport are the result of a desire on behalf of Biden to draw a line under aContinue Reading
Nawid Tanha/EPA-EFE In less than a week, the Taliban has captured nearly a dozen key cities in Afghanistan. With the departure of US forces, it is poised to take over the country from the embattled Afghan government. Over the past 20 years, the US has poured trillions of dollars intoContinue Reading
The short version of events in Afghanistan is that Pakistan won and the international alliance led by the United States lost. Of course the story is not over and things could change – Iraq, for example, is a case of an intervention going very wrong but then returning to aContinue Reading
After a stunningly rapid offensive, the Taliban has occupied Kabul with minimal resistance and is consolidating its power across Afghanistan. But one unconquered area remains – Panjshir province in the country’s northwest, which has – over more than four decades – proved stubbornly resistant to outside interference and remains defiantContinue Reading
The Taliban on patrol in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, in late August 2021. EPA In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we talk to two Afghan experts about the origins of the Taliban and what’s happened over the last 20 years that enabled the group to retake control ofContinue Reading
Taliban patrol the streets of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, in late August 2021. EPA In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we talk to two Afghan experts about the origins of the Taliban and what’s happened over the last 20 years that enabled the group to retake control ofContinue Reading
With the Taliban back in Kabul, thousands of Afghan nationals who serviced the ousted government, the US and its allies are desperately attempting to seek asylum. Many attempted to board US jets at an airport in Kabul, some even clinging to the outside of aircraft as they took off. VideosContinue Reading
There is no other way to put it. The west’s failure in Afghanistan will be remembered as one of epic proportions. Not only has the coalition of nations that entered the country 20 years ago failed to export their values – they have failed to bring any stability to localContinue Reading
As he described the rapidly unfolding events in Afghanistan on British radio, UK defence secretary Ben Wallace fought back tears when he conceded that some Afghan local staff “won’t get back” before a full-scale evacuation is completed. He said that he felt a “really deep part of regret” that itContinue Reading
The long war in Afghanistan reached a potential watershed on August 6 when Taliban fighters took over Zaranj, a dusty frontier town with a population of some 63,000 on the Afghan-Iranian border. Though geographically and politically marginal, Zaranj was the first provincial centre to fall during a month of rapidContinue Reading
