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Aside from Afghanistan’s internal crisis, the Taliban also confronts some new strategic challenges.

The Nawaz Sharif government's offer of the olive branch to TTP seems more like an act of desperation than a serious attempt to bring about stability in the country. As the previous deals with militants have shown, the outcomes have favoured militants more than the governments.

Any realistic assessment would suggest that the Taliban holds the key to the Afghan peace process. An Indian engagement with the Taliban does not mean a political endorsement of its ideology or worldview. Finding a way to talk to the Taliban must necessarily be a part of Delhi's Afghan policy mix.

Reconciliation with the Taliban is critical to the US transition plan for Afghanistan. Although there have been secret and persistent talks with some key elements of the Taliban leadership during the last two years, a tangible outcome has yet to emerge from these negotiations.

Pakistan has not given up its dream of controlling Afghanistan. It gives Rawalpindi an incredible reach and influence in the region and a legitimacy at home which has been under severe strain since the Abbottabad raid. The Taliban office in Doha is the first step towards such a goal. In that sense, the Doha office is a breakthrough for Rawalpindi more than any one else.

India has maintained that there is no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Taliban, and that it views the group under a single umbrella. While dipl

The release of seven Afghan prisoners by Pakistan over the weekend has raised hopes, once again, for a formal dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban leaders under the protection of Pakistan.

President Biden has been left in charge of responsibly withdrawing from Afghanistan, while holding the Taliban accountable and not leaving the Afghan

Taliban 2.0 are working towards ensuring that they are not dependent on external sources of revenue

While the Afghan government has begun the release of Taliban prisoners and the US prepares for a drawdown in troop numbers, the Taliban’s ties to th

The burial of another superpower in the graveyard of empires resets the regional security balance in South Asia with New Delhi being left to make some

Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August last year and since then, serious security concerns have arisen for India. There is the spectre of terrorist groups in neighbouring countries gaining strength; there is also the threat of Indians travelling to Afghanistan to either live as civilians desiring a home under “Islamic rule”, or else fight alongside terrorist groups. Indeed, other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh are reporting that

In the 1990s, Taliban fighters aggravated the situation in Kashmir. Will they do it again? It depends on the extent of ISI control

Like the proverbial phoenix of Greek mythology that rose from its ashes, the Taliban is resurrecting in Afghanistan. The good news is that the ¿rising Taliban¿, on the one hand, is supposed to be moderate, and on the other hand, seems to have severed its links with Al Qaeda. The bad news is that it is still the Taliban.

For Trump, although bringing American troops stationed in Afghanistan has been one of the most important objectives, the calling off of the talks coul

The deal will be packaged as a historic triumph of Islamist groups and jihadist outfits for decades to come.

The Taliban’s expanding footprint across the country conjures up a horrific image of what would happen should the Taliban continue to control and ru

Would Taliban be able to engage with the international community by working around their apprehensions in 2022?

Resurgence of terrorism and a further influx of refugees are areas of concern for Bangladesh after the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Politicians and diplomats usually move on when an infinitely sad event eventually settles in the private domain. But that should not happen in the case of the tragic death of Maniappan Raman Kutty near Kandahar in Afghanistan last week at the hands of the Taliban.

As negotiations begin and Afghans wait with baited-breath — the future of Afghanistan remains uncertain. The US is ready to leave, the Kabul governm

The US-Taliban deal must be subjected to consistent academic scrutiny as an agreement that was designed for a safe exit passage from a theatre of war for the US, not stability for Afghanistan or the Afghan people

The irony of a superpower seeking security guarantees from a non-state actor for safe withdrawal of its own forces and those of its allies would not w

The victory of Taliban in Afghanistan is altering the Islamist jihad landscape, making it more complex as various actors engage in regional and strate

One year into Taliban rule, Afghan women and girls struggle for basic human rights.

Is the UN biding its time by bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table while still not according it official recognition?

The progress of the TAPI project would largely depend on the outcome of negotiations between the US and the Taliban.

Violence is being used as a means to manipulate the trajectory of the Afghan peace process.

Much more is at stake than domestic security when it comes to how the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan will affect the small South Asian states

The international community seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place as coercive tactics to reform the Talibann are proving to be ineffectiv

India needs to be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences for its national security.

Zalmay Khalilzad has a tall task ahead of him in talking to the Taliban.

करते परवान गुरुद्वारे पर हमले ने अफ़ग़ानिस्तान में भारत की हालिया सक्रियता पर नए सिरे से सवाल खड़े कर दिए हैं क्योंकि काबुल में तालिबान के काबिज होने के बाद नई दिल्ली उसके

The coming months will see Moscow balancing its security and strategic interests in the Afghan region, along with attempts to expand its economic infl

Two decades down the line, the “War on Terror” remains far from over

While the year 2003 saw many acts of terrorism in South, South-East and West Asia, as well as in Chechnya in Russia, very few major acts of terrorism were reported from Central Asia. In fact, ever since the US-led coalition went into action against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Central Asian Republics (CARs) have remained largely free of major acts of terrorism

In 2018, Pakistan would move deeper into internal chaos, its relations with its neighbours would only worsen adding to tensions on both its borders.