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.
The Islamic State affiliate in South Asia claimed responsibility on Monday for a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan that killed dozens of people and injured about 200 more, in the latest bloody sign of the deteriorating security situation in the country. The death toll from the explosion on Sunday...
The deadly July suicide bombing at a political rally in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa highlights a troublesome trend of violence in the region. The bombing on Sunday targeted those attending a rally for the religious political party Jamiat Uleme-e-Islam-Fazal (JUIF) in the...
As a child studying in a madrasa in Afghanistan, Mohammad Khalid Tahir dreamed of waging jihad. By the time he was a teenager, he had joined the Taliban and celebrated when they seized power from the U.S.-backed government two years ago. But the high from that victory did not last. Reassigned...
More than 50 people were killed and many others injured in bomb attacks in two different Pakistan provinces, officials have said. In the southwestern province of Balochistan, a powerful bomb exploded on Friday near a mosque in Mastung city, where people were...
A suspected suicide bomb blast during a procession to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad has left more than 50 people dead and many more wounded in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province. It was not the only attack on Friday. Host Carol Hills speaks with Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace, about the growing instability in Pakistan caused by...
Afghanistan’s new rulers have rewarded Taliban veterans and hardliners with plum posts in the cabinet despite promising an inclusive government, but the choices could pose obstacles in the country getting Western recognition and aid. At least three members named in what was described as...
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan over a month ago. The last time they rose to power was in 1996, promising order through a strict interpretation of Sharia law. But how did they become the dominant force in Afghanistan? Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, hosts of NPR's History podcast Throughline, look at the origins of the Taliban, starting with the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan more than 40 years ago...
A Pakistan minister has defended Prime Minister Imran Khan after he said that his government is holding talks with some groups of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), sparking criticism. In an interview with a Turkish news channel, Imran Khan said that the Pakistan government holding talks with some groups of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to ask them to lay down their weapons and make them agree to adhere to the country's constitution...
The turbaned Taliban gather in front of the entrance to the deserted barracks. They fish their smartphones out of their vest pockets, switch on their flashlights, and illuminate the ghostly darkness inside. There are no windows in the corridor, nor the small, neat rooms to the left and right. If it weren’t for the nice office chairs and the comfortable bathroom cubicles, one might mistake them for cells. But the rooms are part of a section of a now abandoned military base in Shkin, in southeastern Afghanistan, that was once occupied by U.S. forces, including CIA officers...
In Pakistan’s rugged tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan, a quiet and persistent warning is circulating: The Taliban are returning. Pakistan’s own Taliban movement, which had in years past waged a violent campaign against the Islamabad government, has been emboldened by the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan...