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.
Since taking power last summer, Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has been isolated internationally; not a single country has yet recognized it. But in recent weeks, Taliban officials have made a series of increasingly public overtures to a once unlikely prospective partner: India. And the interest has been...
Nearly a decade ago, life and death was not just a state of being and nothingness for the Karachi-based Aurangzeb Alai of the Awami National Party (ANP). He was part of a cat and mouse game, where his very survival was at stake. The game was simple. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would have to kill him to...
A year ago, India was not happy about the state of affairs in Afghanistan. The U.S. was negotiating its exit. The Taliban was consolidating power. And decades of India supporting anti-Taliban forces was evaporating. But just last month, Indian officials went to Kabul to meet with Taliban leaders. India has also partially...
A U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan this weekend killed Ayman al-Zawahri, who helped Osama bin Laden plot the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and helped al-Qaida survive and spread in the years after. By finding and striking al-Zawahiri, President Joe Biden said, the U.S. was ensuring that Afghanistan under...
An American drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahri, a key plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks who took over as the leader of Al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death, at an urban safe house in Afghanistan, President Biden announced on Monday night. The early-morning strike in the heart of...
When President Biden announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan last year, one of his main justifications was that Al Qaeda had been so “degraded” that the United States no longer needed to maintain a military presence in a country once used as a Qaeda sanctuary. Mr. Biden also vowed to hold...
The U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri here early Sunday also struck a humiliating blow against the Taliban regime, which had secretly hosted the aging extremist in the heart of the Afghan capital for months but failed to keep him safe. Just as the Taliban was preparing to celebrate its...
A consequence of killing al Qaeda leader AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI in Kabul is that the Biden administration may not soon return the $3.5 billion it took from the Afghan people. In February, President JOE BIDEN blocked those U.S.-based funds, owned by Afghanistan’s Central Bank, from falling into the hands of...
As the Taliban has sought to present a kinder, gentler image to a skeptical outside world, its deputy leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, has often served as the movement’s public face. Given that his family name is synonymous with jihadi terrorism and he carries a $10 million price on his head from the U.S. government...
One year after toppling the internationally recognized Afghan government and seizing power, the Taliban has consolidated its tight grip over the war-torn country. The extremist group has monopolized power, sidelining many ethnic and political groups. It has also jailed and beaten journalists and rights defenders...