Russia might be reluctant to sell lethal equipment to the Taliban amidst its ongoing undeclared war with Pakistan despite the threat posed by ISIS-K to Afghanistan due to concern that they could be used in that conflict at the expense of the hard-earned Russian-Pakistani rapprochement in recent years. The Afghan […]
Afghanistan
From Afghanistan To The Sahel: How Al-Qaeda’s Center Of Gravity Shifted, 25 Years After 9/11 (I)
Twenty-five years after al-Qaeda struck Washington and New York, the organization’s most active theater of operations isn’t in the Middle East or South Asia – it’s in a stretch of West Africa most Americans would struggle to locate on a map. New figures from the conflict monitor Acled show violence […]
America’s Post-9/11 Wars Have Triggered 4.5 Million Deaths, Displaced 38-60 Million People, Study Shows
[This article was originally published in May 2023.] The wars the United States waged and fueled in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan following September 11, 2001 caused at least 4.5 million deaths, according to a report by Brown University. Nearly a million of the people who lost their lives […]
Interpreting The Taliban’s Invitation For American Investments
This was arguably a preemptive de-escalation move that would also gauge the US’ intentions. The New York Times (NYT) interviewed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul as part of their coverage of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power. Muttaqi invited the US to reopen its embassy and […]
Lavrov Warned That Western Arms & Ammo Are Being Sent From Ukraine To ISIS-K In Afghanistan
It’s almost certainly the case that they’re being sent through Pakistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in mid-July in his address to participants of a regional meeting on stopping the flow of weapons to terrorists in Central Asia that Western arms and ammo from Ukraine are being sent to […]
From COMECON To The SCO: Eurasia’s Transformation
This study examines continuity and change in Eurasian multilateralism from COMECON and the Warsaw Pact to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Unlike its Soviet-era predecessors, the SCO adopts a flexible and pragmatic model linking security and economic development. However, this flexibility also limits the organization’s ability to manage internal disputes such […]
Russia’s Top UN Representative Reminded The World Of The West’s Responsibility To Afghanistan
The US has a moral responsibility to return Afghanistan’s seized assets, but morality doesn’t guide US policy, let alone under Trump 2.0 given its Hyper-Realist approach of declaring and then advancing national interests. Russia’s Permanent UN Representative Vasily Nebenzia gave a powerful speech about Afghanistan in early March. He condemned the West’s […]
The West Retreats Before Islam
For decades, Europeans fought against the spread of Islam. The fiercest struggle unfolded after September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers in New York were blown up. From that moment on, Europeans, Americans, and Canadians became convinced that Islam was synonymous with terrorism. This led to widespread persecution of Muslims […]
Fighting Along The Durand Line
Escalation on the Afghan–Pakistani border On Saturday night, reports began to arrive that heavy fighting was taking place on the Afghan-Pakistani border with the use of tanks, artillery and aircraft. Later, official reports were received from the Pakistani side, which stated that “on the night of October 11-12, the Afghan […]
Russia’s Formal Recognition Of The Taliban Comes At A Crucial Time For The Broader Region
Trump wants to return US forces to Afghanistan’s Bagram Airbase; there are newfound concerns about the North-South Transport Corridor’s viability after the recent Iranian-Israeli War; and Turkiye is making a powerplay to expand its influence into Central Asia. Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan […]






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