Afghanistan holds immense geopolitical significance in the global politics. The country has caught the attention of international powers and newspapers since the 9/11 plane crashes into the World Trade Center. Since then, it continued to remain in the headlines. However, Afghanistan has always been discussed as anything but a chessboard of global politics or a security threat to regional and global peace. These aspects hold significance in shaping the Afghan predicament, but the country’s internal dynamics are also responsible for chaos and turmoil in Afghanistan.

Despite the fact that Afghanistan has been left to its own devices since the withdrawal of American troops, local authorities have managed to keep the situation in the country under control. Having overcome a number of financial, organisational and humanitarian challenges, the Taliban movement is taking small steps towards creating a unique state model based on moderate Islam and Sharia law…

In the past few months, Pak-Afghan relations have witnessed severe strain due to rising terrorist attacks in Pakistan. TTP, BLA, and ISKP hold safe havens in Afghanistan. Both sides blamed each other for the security lapse. Pakistan even conducted aerial strikes in Afghanistan on the safe havens of TTP. The Taliban government in Afghanistan was reluctant to cooperate with Pakistan over this issue. However, both sides have recently decided on security cooperation over the issue of across-the-border terrorism…

On May 27-28, 2024, a delegation of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, headed by Vice-President Moulawi Rozi Mohammad Rashid, visited Moscow at the invitation of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (OIS RAS). This is the first visit of Afghan scientists to Russia after the Taliban came to power in August 2021.

The dawn of the 21^st century brought with it the decline of the US-led unipolar world order. For the first two decades, the United States demonstrated its brutal military might to rival states and non-state actors. The US-led War on Terror was one of its violent operations in the developing world. This war negatively affected the lives of the people of Afghanistan…

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after the US withdrawal, the government has been struggling to gain international recognition. The United States and its Western allies, the self-proclaimed champions of human rights, have left the country in the lurch. The sanctions imposed by the West on Afghanistan are sparking a humanitarian crisis in the country. However, the West continues to penalize the people of Afghanistan through international institutions, while remaining oblivion to the plight of the people of the country…

On 18^th March 2024, Pakistan conducted airstrikes inside Afghanistan, targeting the sanctuaries of commanders of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The attacks were conducted in retaliation to the suicide attack conducted on a military check post in North Waziristan, a Pakistani district located near the Pak-Afghan border, which resulted in the death of seven Pakistani soldiers. Pakistani officials have claimed the death of 8 terrorists in the retaliatory airstrikes…

The UN Security Council held its regular meeting on Afghanistan on 6 March. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, made a report and provided an update on political, humanitarian and human rights developments in the country since 1 December 2023. It is recalled that UNAMA’s mandate expires on 17 March this year. This fact has prompted the UN Security Council…

In 2023, Afghanistan experienced a limited return to economic growth and infrastructure development after several years of severing most existing ties. During the year, several significant international events occurred in Central Asia, resulting in increased global attention to the region, and a number of projects of Eurasian scale were initiated. At the end of 2023, it appears that there is a long-term interest from Afghanistan in participating in these projects…

The United States emerged as the sole superpower of the world after the end of the Cold War. Contrary to its promise of an inclusive and peaceful world order, the US emerged as the key source of wars, conflicts, and instability around the world in this unipolar world. The United States’ unilateral decisions to wage wars on different countries, especially Iraq, and its involvement in spurring chaos in the Middle East deteriorated its image around the globe…

The United Nations convened a conference of special envoys for Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar on 18-19^th February 2024. The conference was headed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. International envoys belonging to different nations around the world attended this conference. However, the Taliban*, who are the key stakeholders in Afghanistan, did not join the conference. The conference was convened to comply with the recommendations of Feridun Sinirlioglu, Special Coordinator of the United Nations in Afghanistan…

After a two-year respite, Washington seems to be coming ‘back’ to Afghanistan to primarily sabotage China’s inroads. In the second week of February, China received Afghanistan’s ambassador to China, signalling Beijing’s willingness to recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In late 2023, China also became the first country to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan. These developments come against the backdrop of the success of the Taliban in ensuring that anti-China terror groups, i.e., the Islamic State – Khorasan (IS-K) and…