The collapse of the US’s position in Afghanistan has limited read-across to its relations with its NATO and Asian allies. But it is a stark reminder of the constraints on the UK as a global power. This is a desperate time for the people of Afghanistan, as they await their fate under Taliban rule. While too much international aid has […]

There are several reasons for the collapse of the Afghan army, but a duplicitous US negotiation with the Taliban was the most potent, and the insurgents exploited the uncertainty brilliantly. President Joe Biden’s claim that the Afghan army ‘did not have the resolve’ to fight for its own country would seem to be true following its disintegration. But it is […]

Protests against Taliban rule in Afghanistan spread to several cities ahead of the first Friday prayers since the militant group took control last Sunday. In Kabul, around 200 people gathered at one protest on Thursday, the country’s independence day, before Taliban fighters dispersed them violently. Several people were killed in Asadabad after the Taliban fired on a crowd waving Afghan […]

Good afternoon, NATO Foreign Ministers have just met to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. What we have witnessed in recent days is a tragedy for the people of Afghanistan. The situation remains very difficult, and unpredictable. Ministers discussed a number of different issues. First, the continuing evacuation of people from Allied and partner countries, and Afghans who worked with us. […]

In journalism proverb, Afghanistan is a convenient shelter, the writer’s fantasy island from topical issues at home. In the current deluge of news from that country, however, that proverb appears to have lost its meaning. There’s no need for escape to Afghanistan; the traffic is the other way, while Afghanistan’s mythical status is being supplanted by lies, damned lies. One […]

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan threatens to destabilize the North Caucasus for three interrelated reasons. First, the Taliban victory is certain to inspire Islamist rebel groups in that region of southern Russia to act, just as earlier Islamist victories in the Middle East motivated them in the past. Second, following the fall of Kabul, a large number of North Caucasians […]

Iranian officials are carefully weighing their options after the surprisingly swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan amid fears of instability, a refugee influx, and extremist groups such as Islamic State (IS) gaining a permanent foothold in its eastern neighbor. Tehran, which has cultivated loose ties with the Taliban in recent years and hosted the group’s representatives, has not publicly reached out […]

The events that the governments of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have been increasingly dreading in recent weeks have begun to happen. The Afghan government has fallen to the Taliban and despite the Central Asian governments having had years to contemplate and plan for such an occurrence, the initial shock waves from south of the border seem to have particularly caught […]

Speculation abounds. The end of US-managed rule in the nation called Afghanistan has fueled a flood of warnings, blame, and just plain guessing about what comes next there. Liberal and neocon warmongers in the media wring their hands looking for someone/anyone to blame beside their failed imperial strategy. The far right in the US have yet to speak their piece […]

The idea that the world can be shaped by military force, as it was by the Allied victory in World War II, has since been proven impossible time after time. Many Israelis who do not follow events beyond our immediate neighborhood were surprised and even shocked by the American pullout from Afghanistan and its abandonment to the mercies of the […]