A new movement demanding security for Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun minority is calling for the country’s leaders to roll back destructive policies that have fomented domestic volatility, ruined neighboring Afghanistan and fueled the longest war in U.S. history.
As the United States renews its commitment to Afghanistan this year, it is important to define failure and victory in a country afflicted by war for nearly four decades.
With the dreaded annual Taliban spring offensive expected to start in earnest any day now, there are many nervous people on both sides of the Central Asia-Afghan border, and the situation is already more alarming and far more confusing than it was last year.
Iran’s Shi’te clerical regime is forming a strategic alliance with Afghanistan’s hard-line Sunni Taliban. Their covert coalition will have far-reaching consequences for Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as well as rigid Islamist militant groups and regimes throughout the greater Middle East.
Pakistan seems on track in 2017 for another year of just getting by. The country seems likely as in the recent past to avoid fully confronting its most challenging problems yet managing to do enough to avoid their becoming seriously worse.
It is no secret that since the 1970s, Pakistan has recruited, trained, and empowered the greatest number of jihadists anywhere in the world to undermine its enemies and secure a stable future.
A humanitarian disaster marked by masses of returning refugees, internal displacement, insecurity, poverty, economic decline, and narcotics is looming in Afghanistan.
Ahmad Khan Rahami may not have been a very effective terrorist. He may not have been connected with a wider terrorist network. He may not have been fully committed to his cause. But we know that Rahami is a test case for what law enforcement and counterterrorism officials fear the most.
Central Asia experts have recently voiced a consensus view: A leadership change in the region won't translate into real changes. The verdict is logical. Yet a look at known trends suggests changes might come sooner than anticipated.
Afghan security forces must apply the lessons they’ve learned from international forces to prevent civilian casualties. Harm to Afghan civilians turns them against the government and makes them more susceptible to Taliban propaganda and recruitment.
Amid a newly launched Taliban spring offensive, Afghanistan is up against Pakistan’s prevailing desire to keep its neighbor weak, and Kabul lacks the leverage necessary to convince it to change course.
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