Andrew Watkins is a senior expert on Afghanistan for the U.S. Institute of Peace. 

Watkins has worked in and on Afghanistan in a number of roles; he joined USIP after serving as the senior analyst on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group, where he researched and published in-depth reports and analytical commentary on the country’s conflict and efforts to initiate a peaceful settlement. He was previously an analyst of the country’s insurgent landscape for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, and studied the Taliban as an independent researcher. As an advisor to humanitarian organizations based across the country, he traveled widely and conducted extensive field research. He also served as a liaison with local security forces for several years.

Watkins' research focuses on insurgency in Afghanistan, regional engagement in the Afghanistan conflict, and challenges and opportunities for humanitarian access. He has written extensively on the phenomenon of cohesion and fragmentation within the Taliban. His commentary and analysis have been widely published by major media outlets and research institutes, and he is regularly cited by global press such as the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, the BBC, the Economist, Associated Press, NPR, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera and many others.

Watkins has a master’s from Harvard University and a bachelor’s from Columbia University.

Publications By Andrew

Five Takeaways from China’s Latest Diplomacy

Five Takeaways from China’s Latest Diplomacy

Thursday, May 18, 2023

By: Carla Freeman, Ph.D.;  Mary Glantz, Ph.D.;  Daniel Markey, Ph.D.;  Jason Tower;  Andrew Watkins

China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has been on a whirlwind diplomatic tour in recent weeks, with high-profile meetings in Europe, Myanmar, Pakistan — where he also met with Taliban officials — and back home in Beijing with the U.S. ambassador to China. With U.S.-China relations as frosty as ever, Qin’s meeting with Ambassador Nicholas Burns signals that both sides want to manage better manage their differences. In Europe, Beijing is promoting its peace plan for Ukraine despite European concerns that Beijing is decidedly pro-Moscow. Meanwhile, amid crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, China is wielding its clout to advance its own interests in spite of the implications for long-term stability.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Global Policy

U.N. Conference Highlights Global Unity but Limited Leverage Over the Taliban

U.N. Conference Highlights Global Unity but Limited Leverage Over the Taliban

Thursday, May 4, 2023

By: Belquis Ahmadi;  Kate Bateman;  Andrew Watkins;  Scott Worden

Over a year and a half since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, not a single country has recognized its government. Yet, it has resulted in no change in Taliban behavior. The worst predictions of what Taliban rule could be like have come true, as the regime has implemented unprecedented restrictions on women amid a brutal humanitarian crisis. The situation is so bad that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres convened a special conference in Doha, Qatar this week — with no Taliban representation — to discuss Afghanistan’s international isolation. While there were no tangible outcomes — evidence of how limited the international community’s leverage really is — it did demonstrate remarkable consensus on the imperative to help the Afghan people.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

GenderGlobal PolicyHuman Rights

What’s Next for the Taliban’s Leadership Amid Rising Dissent?

What’s Next for the Taliban’s Leadership Amid Rising Dissent?

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

By: Andrew Watkins

Since their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have moved to restrict social freedoms, with a persistent focus on the rights of women and girls. Two edicts issued in December 2022, indefinitely banning Afghan women from attending universities and prohibiting working in NGO offices, constitute the most extreme restrictions yet — orders that were expanded this week to apply to women working for the U.N. as well.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Democracy & Governance

Is Pakistan Poised to Take on the TTP?

Is Pakistan Poised to Take on the TTP?

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

By: Asfandyar Mir, Ph.D.;  Tamanna Salikuddin;  Andrew Watkins

The Pakistani Taliban’s late January attack in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, claimed the lives of more than 100 worshipping at a police compound mosque. The bombing was claimed by a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban) initially, but later denied by the TTP’s central leadership. It was the group’s deadliest attack since its 2021 resurgence after the Afghan Taliban took power in Afghanistan. As Pakistan struggles with a major economic crisis, the fallout from the deadly floods of last fall and an ever-turbulent political scene, the TTP’s growing threat presents yet another challenge for the struggling nation.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Conflict Analysis & PreventionViolent Extremism

Can the Taliban’s Brazen Assault on Afghan Women Be Stopped?

Can the Taliban’s Brazen Assault on Afghan Women Be Stopped?

Thursday, January 12, 2023

By: Belquis Ahmadi;  Kate Bateman;  Andrew Watkins;  Scott Worden

The Taliban marked the New Year by doubling down on their severe, ever-growing restrictions on women’s rights. On December 20, they banned women from all universities — adding to their prior ban on girls attending middle and high school. Then the Taliban announced on December 24 that women cannot work for NGOs, including humanitarian organizations that are providing vital food and basic health services to the population that is now projected at 90 percent below the poverty rate. Western and regional governments have responded with uncommonly unified outrage and many humanitarian organizations have suspended their operations until women are allowed to return to their jobs.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

GenderHuman Rights

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