Afghanistan
Turbulence, the Taliban, and Turkey’s role in Afghanistan’s future
Amid the chaos of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, regional players including Turkey have been jostling to position themselves with the new regime and take advantage of the…
Economic diplomacy: After Kabul, Australia looks to India
Suitcase intelligence
Bob Carr recalls in his Diary of a Foreign Minister how a senior Australian intelligence official told him bluntly in 2013 that the war against the…
What’s in a name? The Taliban and recognition under international law
Is Afghanistan any longer a State in the international system under international law? More particularly, is the Taliban capable of being recognised as a legitimate government?
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Afghanistan holds lessons for American power in Asia
Has America’s ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan damaged its credibility? The scenes of chaos and panic at Kabul International Airport have certainly reinforced the sense…
India fears a poison harvest from Afghanistan
The takeover of the Afghan government by the hard-line Islamist Taliban was swift and bloodless – at least on the day the group marched into the capital, Kabul. It means a u-turn…
The world must evacuate women police in Afghanistan
Women police have been among the victims of targeted killings as the Taliban expanded their territorial gains over the last year, along with women judges, journalists and human…
Decoding intelligence on Afghanistan
Did the US intelligence community fail by not accurately predicting the speed and scale of the Taliban’s victory?
A familiar blame game is now underway in Washington with…
Afghanistan’s collapse shifts strategic dynamics in South Asia
What was predicted to take 90 days instead occurred within weeks – a complete takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban after a hasty withdrawal of US troops, with Kabul succumbing…
What to do after the Taliban take-over
I am not an emotionally detached observer of Afghanistan. The country was once my second home, and I still have friends and colleagues there. Frankly, I am gutted – it is hard to…
Kabul has fallen and so have we
In September of 1996, I along with a group of journalists based in New Delhi, followed the Taliban into Kabul. It was a cold day all round. There were munitions piled high on the…