Does Beijing grasp the portent of embracing Afghanistan and the Taliban?
2019-02-10
By Raffaello Pantucci
Raffaello Pantucci says it is not clear that Beijing fully appreciates the role it is taking on by trying to broker peace in strife-torn Afghanistan
The 2018-19 period has been noteworthy in one way: it has seen a flurry of activity between China and Afghanistan.
During that time, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and
Read more
Afghanistan at a Crossroads
2019-02-04
By Dr. Davood Moradian
Any agreement between the Taliban and the U.S. at the expense of the Afghan government and people is doomed to fail
Afghanistan is seeing growing national, regional and global attempts to seek a peaceful settlement to the conflict. The U.S. is desperate to extricate itself from the war, heightened by an unpredictable President and
Read more
Can the Afghan Peace Process Succeed?
2019-01-29
By Mohammad Shoaib Haidary
Talks with the Taliban must include long-term, patient efforts to negotiate and resolve the disagreements between the Afghans on the issue of peace.
In 2018, Afghanistan witnessed rapid changes in the ongoing peace process. In early February, President Ashraf Ghani extended an unconditional peace
Read more
Vietnam Redux in Afghanistan: Peace as an Extension of War by Other Means
2019-01-22
By Anthony H. Cordesman
It would be unfair to accuse any element of the US. Government as having had the wrong strategy for Afghanistan. The real accusation should be that it has had so many partially conflicting strategies that it never properly resourced or implemented overtime, or actively reversed, that it has had no real strategy at all. The United States has been remarkably inconsiste
Read more
The Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001): ‘War-Making and State-Making’ as an Insurgency Strategy
2019-01-14
By Dr. Yaqub Ibrahimi
The establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) was the Taliban’s first effort to transform into a state structure in the midst of the Afghan civil war. However, the effort met with no ultimate success. After capturing Kabul in September 1996, the Taliban formed the IEA which was based on a two-track governance system
Read more