Afghanistan War
Trump strong-arms Zelenskyy: Afghans have seen these tactics before
The verbal sparring between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office is a mirror of history, reflecting the ease with which the United States…
Far from the limelight, forgotten Afghans continue the fight
Book review: August in Kabul: America’s last days in Afghanistan, by Andrew Quilty (Melbourne University Press, 2022)
Six months after the Taliban toppled the Ghani-led Afghan…
Australia can stand up for the Afghan people, and the time is now
On 19 April, a suicide bomber struck as students were coming out of school in Kabul, Afghanistan, leaving dozens injured and at least six dead. The brutality of the attack – and…
Taliban takeover – Best of The Interpreter 2021
US forces and their allies debated the same question with varying intensity for 20 years after the 9/11 attacks. Afghanistan: To leave or not to leave? Syed Fazl-e-Haider:
The…
The Doha accord and Taliban legitimacy
Under the 2020 Doha Agreement, the US withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan was conditional on Taliban security assurances that Afghan territory would not be used as a launch…
Podcasts
After The Fall: Fawzia Koofi on Afghanistan's future
In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, former member of the Afghan parliament and its first female deputy speaker Fawzia Koofi joins Lowy Institute Research…
The many consequences of a clear blue day on 11 September, 2001
The 9/11 attacks – four separate coordinated strikes by al-Qaeda using passenger planes as weapons of mass destruction – were the deadliest and most consequential terrorist events…
Podcasts
The Director’s Chair: John Howard on Australia-China relations, the Afghanistan War, and COVID
In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with John Howard, Australia’s 25th Prime Minister
An Afghan test leaves Australia’s principles wanting
When the Taliban emerged from the wastes of Afghanistan in the 1990s, the international community was caught completely off guard. Intelligence on the ground was pretty much non…
The evolving Taliban-ISK rivalry
The attack on evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport by the Islamic State- Khorasan Province (ISK, ISKP, or ISIS-K) triggered much speculation about the Afghan Taliban’s ability…