The draw down of international troops in Afghanistan was predicated on ISAF building a relationship with Afghan forces to 'hand over' security. 'Green on blue attacks' signal an opposite trend, and one that may intensify as troops leave.
Aid agency engagement with the Taliban will be critical to ensuring they can still operate after 2014. Research published by ODI explores Taliban attitudes toward aid work and the approaches used by aid agencies to gain access to Taliban-held areas.
In Afghanistan, opium is not clandestinely traded on some back alley black market. Opium is the market.
Small but promising steps towards normalisation between India and Pakistan have implications beyond their bilateral relations, given the challenging neighbourhood the two states inhabit.
What US foreign policy should we expect if Romney was to win in November? His statements during the campaign suggests adherence to his neocon advisers' hard line stances on many topics, including hawkish positions on China, Iran and Russia. One week before the election, Commander-in-chief Romney r
In the presidential campaign, American foreign policy towards the Middle East has overshadowed other regions by far – underlining considerable differences between each candidate’s approach to this part of the world
Pakistan’s decision to speed up the return of the three million Afghan refugees living across the border places strain on a bilateral relationship already suffering from a massive trust deficit.
The west's campaign in Afghanistan is simply out of date. If there is any hope in a positive outcome, then a paradigm shift from conflict to dialogue is required.
When the United States led the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, it planned to extend its power from Afghanistan to the wider region. Today, the actions of leading states - Russia, Pakistan, and China among them - are contributing to a very different outcome.
A power-sharing political system already exists, but not the one Farhad Arian envisions. The system proposed is unrealistic, and looking to the 'International Community' to bring it into being is misguided, at best.
This summer, former leading figures in the Afghan Taliban and former mediators met the authors to discuss Taliban ideas for a peace settlement. This RUSI briefing paper affords rare insights into currents of opinion within the Taliban.
