Friday, December 8, 2023
Press
Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
Taliban Maintain Poppy Crackdown, US Fears Farmers’ Return to Cultivation - Voice of America
Afghanistan's Taliban government is touting major strides in combating drug production and trafficking over the past year. Acting defense minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid announced at a Kabul press conference on Sunday that 4,472 tons of narcotics had been destroyed, 8,282 individuals involved in production and smuggling were...
The Taliban Have a New Drug of Choice - Foreign Policy
As if Coca-Cola gave up making soft drinks, the Taliban announced to great fanfare last year that they were getting out of the drug business. The group that rode big opium profits to a takeover of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 suddenly, seemingly, swore off the stuff. Poppy planting was banned and drugs were...
Afghanistan Aid Shortfall Risks Mass Hunger, Hospitals Without Medicine - Voice of America
Millions of people in Afghanistan are likely to have no food, healthcare or shelter this winter because of critical funding gaps, according to various experts who spoke with VOA. “What is at stake in Afghanistan this winter is the lives of millions of starving women and children,” Jan Egeland...
Taliban's War on Drugs Going Strong, for Now - Voice of America
De facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are presenting an impressive list of achievements in the fight against narcotics about a year after their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, outlawed drug production. To implement Akhundzada's edict, Taliban forces have conducted 5,799 counter...
Argentina and the IMF reach agreement on a last minute loan - BBC's World Business Report
Argentina has reached a $7.5bn agreement with the International Monetary Fund, as it tries to get its troubled economy back on track. The South American nation has been in negotiations with the Fund for months over its $44 billion loan program. That's the biggest outstanding deal that the IMF has with any...
USIP Expert Says Intl Aid to Afghanistan 'Slipping,' Changes Needed - Tolo News
William Byrd, a United States Institute of Peace (USIP) expert writing for the LAWFARE blog, said that international aid to Afghanistan is decreasing, and he proposed a number of changes to the world's approach to helping Afghanistan—including coordinating aid efforts and utilizing the Afghan Trust...
Afghanistan Requires a Change from Humanitarian Business as Usual - Lawfare
International humanitarian aid is critical in responding to natural disasters and other short-term emergencies. But as the U.N. itself recognizes, such aid is not well positioned to respond to—let alone resolve—a prolonged economic crisis such as the one currently occurring in Afghanistan. This is particularly true when...
Can the Taliban Tackle Corruption in Afghanistan? - Voice of America
For more than a decade, Afghanistan was continuously ranked among the 10 most corrupt governments. But this year, the country has left its disreputable position, and the Taliban claim credit for it. On Tuesday, Transparency International, a Berlin-based nongovernment corruption watchdog, released its latest...
Let’s Not Kid Ourselves: Afghanistan’s Taliban Regime Will Not Become More Inclusive - Lawfare
Ever since the August 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there has been widespread, almost universal, rhetoric in international diplomatic circles—ranging from the United Nations to the European Union and the United States to Russia—that the Taliban need to form a more inclusive government, with varying definitions...