Ironies of a war of revenge
AMONG the many ironies of the US war in Afghanistan was the instance when Hamid Karzai in December 2001 came very close to an agreement that provided for the Afghan…
Bitter after-taste
PRESIDENT Joe Biden has handed Afghanistan to the Taliban on a platter. After his mismanagement of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, he has also handed the White House to his predecessor…
Threat of Taliban ascendancy
There are many reasons why Pakistanis should be deeply concerned about the Taliban ascendancy in Afghanistan. But perhaps the two most important reasons are, in equal parts, existential and urgent.…
Waiting for a call
IS a call from Joe Biden to Imran Khan going to decide the fate of humanity, or of Afghanistan and Pakistan — singly or collectively? The answer seems to be…
The Taliban’s real test
The triumph of the Taliban may have created a ripple of excitement among right-wing circles in Pakistan but it has also sent a shiver down the spines of human rights…
A new Saigon moment?
“The great challenge to Afghanistan’s future is not the Taliban, or the Pakistani safe havens or even an incipiently hostile Pakistan. The existential threat to the long-term viability of modern…
The future of Afghanistan
Taliban are just 50km away from Afghanistan’s capital Kabul after having captured the Logar province and its provincial capital Pol-e Alam. Logar is Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s home province. In…
Taliban back – almost
Districts in Afghanistan and falling like ninepins. The Afghan Taliban has already taken control of 18 out of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces – and without much resistance. The Afghan National Army,…
Choosing a side in Afghanistan
There is growing trepidation that the situation in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating. This sense of doom has been locked in for Afghan elites outside the Taliban’s Doha Shura since at…
The Afghan challenge
With US and Nato troops having all but departed from Afghanistan after 20 years of political and military failure, Afghanistan’s present situation is a tough call for Pakistan. It is…
