Taliban

The best chance for success would be for Obama to call a ceasefire, followed by all-inclusive talks. Political concerns mean he won’t.

Barack Obama’s recent trip to Asia was a disaster for US interests. Either his team is incompetent or there’s something they’re not telling us.

Nine years after the first post-Taliban UN talks on Afghanistan were concluded in Bonn, one border province is still left oddly isolated.

Pakistan is in crisis. Overcoming this will mean completely rethinking long-held assumptions about what the country is meant to be.

The timing of Gen. Petraeus’s good news on Afghanistan is strangely convenient for Washington—and glosses over the reality of a likely civil war.

By publicly acknowledging the price Pakistan pays for its counterterrorism policy, the US is helping untie its leadership’s hands.

The US has long resisted talking to the Taliban. But as the July 2011 drawdown date approaches, it’s running out of options.

The row over US attacks in Pakistan has highlighted uncertainties over the rules of engagement. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.

The prize for China is ejecting the US from Asia, says Madhav Nalapat. Its best chance to claim it? NATO’s defeat in Afghanistan.

Nine years after 9/11, frustration and uncertainty prevail in Afghanistan, as the country prepares for its parliamentary elections on Saturday. Karlos Zurutuza reports.

The Diplomat speaks with Matthew Hoh, director of the Afghanistan Study Group, about the group’s report on the future of US forces in the country.

The three-year extension given to Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has underscored his influence.