Taliban

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.

Pakistan has done more than was in its own interests in the war on terror. Its support for the US has left it with a civil war.

Afghanistan’s peace jirga concluded with no clear breakthrough. Was it worth it?

Indian strategic brass is ‘worried to its bones’ of a Taliban return to power.

As villages in Afghanistan turn to private militias for security, Sanjay Kumar asks if such outfits mark a return to warlordism.

The London conference on Afghanistan’s future was wishful thinking. For real stability, look to China, India, Russia–and Iran.

The Diplomat speaks with Fabrice Pothier, director of Carnegie Europe, about the security situation in Afghanistan, talking with the Taliban and the prospects for stability once US-led forces withdraw.

The major US-led offensive in Afghanistan against militants in Helmand Province is, according to reports, going well–military at least. This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise–militants were never going to offer much resistance in a stand-up fig

As US-led forces engage in a major offensive in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, commentators in Pakistan are still taking stock of the London conference and what it could mean for the role their country plays in their neighbour’s stability. Mustafa Qadri reports that many believe the road to such stability and security will inevitably run through Pakistan–and to the Taliban.

The newly-launched offensive in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province has raised some interesting issues about the importance of soft power, something that the coalition forces still need to master in the fight against the Taliban.The BBC has an interesting