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Civil wars are drawn-out conflicts, often lasting up to a decade or even longer before a political settlement is reached. Pakistan's military campaign against Pashtun militants, variously allied to the Afghan Taliban, the al-Qaeda, and often fighting for localised interests has stretched into its 12th year.

While President Barack Obama is pursuing his two-pronged approach in Afghanistan that involves talking to the Taliban and handling over the security to the Afghan National Army (ANA).

Young Suryanarayana is a life that has been cut in its prime. He was the vic- tim of a bigoted doctrine taught in Pakistan for nearly three decades; for the Taliban are only another manifestation of the Islamist drive of General Zia-ul-Haq. The Indian died in a terrorist act after his abduc- tors demanded that all 2,500 Indians in Afghanistan vacate immediately. It was an absurd demand and no government would ever have agreed to it.

If the Pakistan-TTP talks succeed Pakistan may actually metamorphose from a hybrid theocracy to a complete theocracy, as Ayesha Siddiqa argues, because the Taliban, good or bad, want implementation of the Sharia. Thus all would depend on how far Pakistan's military and civilian leadership want to go to accommodate Taliban demands or prefer to wage war against TTP.

The recent attack on the British Council in Kabul by the Taliban shows that, apart from military tactics, there is an urgent requirement in the West to reconsider the political objectives in Afghanistan.

The normalisation of extremist groups staking control of major States has had no clear policy response from most countries.

As Pakistan struggles to prod the Taliban to act on militant groups, its dual policy of supporting extremist groups has come back to haunt it

New Delhi’s top-most priority should be to ensure timely, non-discriminatory relief distribution

Conflict resolution and political problem-solving in other countries are not traits that Chinese diplomats excel at. It remains to be seen how China walks this tightrope in Afghanistan, which remains a fractured crucible of contradictory ethnic and political interests

The Taliban, ably helped by Pakistan, the US’s frontline ally in its global war on terror, has badly dented the notion of US invincibility. Despite President Joe Biden’s efforts in recent months to reassure allies that “America is back”, there is a wariness about both US commitment and its competence.

Donald Trump’s engagement with the Kashmir issue has a lot to do with his need to secure Pakistan’s backing for his Afghanistan policy.

Discussions between the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) also saw a general agreement that the Taliban victory in Afghanistan will lead to a civil war with disastrous consequences for Pakistan

This is the biggest protest campaign in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban regime. This is bloody, widespread and countrywide.This also shows that they are fed up with the United States and they just needed a spark to vent their feelings.

The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate.

Since the toppling of the Taliban government in 2001, India and Afghanistan have witnessed a significant strengthening of their bilateral ties. As Afghanistan's stability is important for India's own, New Delhi has readily supported the growth of democracy in its neighbour, battered as it is by many years of conflict and instability. This paper maps out the nature of India's relationship with Afghanistan, focusing on the two nations' economic, po

India has a range of interests to protect in Afghanistan. For far too long New Delhi’s reliance on Washington’s role as a security provider has been its major vulnerability.

Long sidelined by Islamabad, Moscow, and Beijing, New Delhi is finally taking a seat at the table.

Proximity changes the priorities for India in a conflict on the doorstep.

New Delhi should become more proactively involved in the peace process and not shy away from drawing its own red-lines

New Delhi requires partners both outside and inside Afghanistan to protect its presence and interests in the war-torn country.

Instead, on Sunday, US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad left Qatar, where the US-Taliban talks were being held, the September 1 deadline having been crossed without any final agreement.

Despite being knocked off its feet by the collapse of the Ghani government of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, New Delhi has quickly re-established its presence in the new Taliban-led Afghanistan.

In the last year, ISKP, through its violent attacks, has attempted to create instability in Afghanistan and beyond to trigger propaganda for its jihadi goals.

While there is raging debate about whether the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) are foes or operational allies, there is little doubt that ISKP continues to pose a threat to the ongoing peace process, and the Afghan security.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, just after the withdrawal of US-led troops, will have ramifications in Japan’s activities in the region. Since 2001, Japan has provided 759 billion yen (USD6.9 billion) to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. This, despite the fact that Japan does not share geographical proximity with Afghanistan and therefore has no direct strategic interests in the country. To be sure, Japan’s partners s

There is no real incentive for the Taliban to concede on any issue given that Washington's best bargaining chip—its military prowess—is now off the table.

The sad fact is the Pakistani rulers are unable to prevent Taliban activists from targeting their own people, the Shias, whose processions have been periodically attacked in Rawalpindi and Karachi. It is high time Pakistani rulers realised the fact that terrorism would consume their own people even before it targeted others in India.

The geography of terror groups is fluid. Kokernag to Kandahar is in the throes of security being provided by actors who were part of the crisis to begin with

After 9-11, many Americans remember Pakistani dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf¿s speech to Pakistanis in English, in which he explained his U-turn on the Taliban and Al Qaida. Faced with a ¿with us or against us¿ ultimatum from an angry America, Gen.Musharraf told his rich Pakistani elite brethren that Pakistan had to finally ¿shun extremism¿ and join hands with the US.

The armed assault and siege carried out by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Pakistan's highly secured Pakistan Navy's Mehran airbase in Karachi (May 22-23) has raised fundamental concerns about the continuing failure on the part of Pakistan's intelligence and security agencies,

The Nepal-India-Sri Lanka initiative could be used to pursue better people-to-people relations.

US President Donald Trump is desperate to pull American troops out of the war-torn country, even if it means clearing the way for the Taliban's ascent to power in Kabul

Mullah Omar's latest statement shows that despite his amicability to the reconciliation process, the prospects for the new Afghan president to achieve a breakthrough with the Taliban are quite remote.

For a nation such as India, which is among the countries most affected by terrorism, this is a time to take the lead in continuing to keep the spotlight on the menace of terrorism

The possible return of the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, is a challenge. But don’t count India out

With the news of back channel negotiations between the Taliban and the United States coming to light, the Karzai government's fear of the hijacking of the reconciliation process with the Taliban by foreign partners might not be ill found.

In Afghanistan, ‘reconciliation’ means different things to different players and to different groups of Afghans

Pakistan's cooperation against extremist groups has been selective, targetting those threatening its own stability but avoiding action against the Afghan Taliban seen as strategic assets for controlling Afghanistan once the US withdrew

Waziristan last month ostensibly to hunt down al Qaida and Talibanelements has been a visible failure which could dramatically alterthe already existing fault lines in the force divided betweenloyalty to Musharraf, nation and religion.South Waziristan is one of the seven areas -Khyber, Kurram,Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North and South Waziristan - which wereclubbed together as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)by the British who wanted

There are conflicting reports about Pakistan army's decision to launch a military offensive against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and other terrorist strongholds in North Waziristan.