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Taliban, women and children

As the Taliban overtook Kabul and now-former president Ashraf Ghani fled the country, Afghanistan stands to face its most urgent humanitarian crisis in two decades. More than 80 percent of…

Playing with empire

MORE than six weeks since the longest war in US history ended in almost surreal circumstances with the re-establishment of the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’, Washington’s political and military establishment…

Changing perceptions and altered realities

Through which lens should Pakistan be looking at the world? At this juncture in our history, foreign policy, diplomatic relations and our ability to put forward our own viewpoint, as…

The burden of power

With Major General Chris Donahue, the commanding general of the 82nd airborne division having boarded the C-17 aircraft, the two-decade-old American military mission in Afghanistan came to an end. The…

Muslims in danger

I am going out on a limb here. I told you last week that the events in Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover were fore planned in tandem with a desperate…

Prosperous region

Twenty years ago, the tragic attacks of 9/11 resulted in changing the world's dynamics. However, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, the Taliban, are once again rulers of Afghanistan…

Afghanistan calculus

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan used to raise $2.8 billion in domestic revenues per year and spent $11.4 billion per year. Of the $11.4 billion in public spending, $5.6 billion…

The Taliban challenge

WITH the fall of the last pocket of resistance, the Afghan Taliban now virtually control the entire country. It took days of fighting to clear the Panjshir valley that had remained out…

Returning to a repressive order

THE brutal killing of a comedian in Kandahar last week and a spree of reported executions raise questions about the claim of the resurgent Afghan Taliban having reformed. It’s not just the…