Afghanistan | Al Majalla

In this May 2, 2021 file photo, a U.S. flag is lowered as American and Afghan soldiers attend a handover ceremony from the U.S. Army to the Afghan National Army, at Camp Anthonic, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. (Afghan Ministry of Defense Press Office via AP, File)

A Taliban Victory Is Not Inevitable

The withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan has unleashed a fresh wave of violence. Taliban forces have stepped up attacks across the country and overrun a growing number of districts…

Seth G. Jones 30 July 2021

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier stands guard at Bagram Air Base, after all US and NATO troops left, some 70 Km north of Kabul on July 2, 2021. (TNS)

The US in Afghanistan: It Was Always Going to End This Way

The security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating, prompting many to second-guess President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops by Sept. 11. This is an understandable emotional reaction…

Elizabeth Shackelford 04 July 2021

Afghan former interpreters for the US and NATO forces gather during a demonstration in downtown Kabul on April 30, 2021, on the eve of the beginning of Washington's formal troop withdrawal -- although forces have been drawn down for months. (Getty)

Betrayed: Is The World Abandoning Helpful Afghans?

On June 8, gunmen shot dead 10 Afghans working for the international demining organization the Halo Trust in an attack on their camp in the north of the country. While Halo did not officially blame…

Meera Ravi 18 June 2021

Afghan women, youths, activists and elders gather at a rally to support peace talks and the republic government in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 29, 2021. According to the reports, Turkey will host the Afghanistan peace-talks summit in the upcoming days. (Getty)

U.S. Defending or Abandoning Afghan Women Is a False Choice

When U.S. policymakers debate the future of Afghan women, they often frame a binary choice. The United States can either abandon them—as collateral damage of a foolhardy Western experiment imposed on…

Rina Amiri 21 May 2021

The Washington Post Co. headquarters stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Aug. 5, 2013. (Getty)

US Papers Debate How and When to End Afghanistan War

Last week, as President Joe Biden officially announced that the US troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11, 20 years after the terrorist attack on the US that ignited the Global War on…

Mohammad Ali Salih 23 April 2021

Activists of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam Nazryate party shout as they celebrate the signing agreement between the US and the Taliban during a rally in Quetta on March 1, 2020. (Getty)

The Myth of a Responsible Withdrawal From Afghanistan

President Joe Biden is now the fourth American leader to oversee the U.S. war in Afghanistan. He inherits a fragile peace process that members of his team have wisely signaled they will work to…

Laurel Miller 31 January 2021

Mike Pompeo alleged that Iran has become a new "home base" for Al-Qaeda worse than Afghanistan

The Al-Qaeda-Iran Relationship

As the Trump administration winds down, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed a New York Times report that Al-Qaeda's second-in-command was killed last year in Tehran and accused Iran's government…

Al Majalla - London 15 January 2021

U.S. Army soldiers retrieve their bags after they returned home from a 9-month deployment to Afghanistan

There Is Only One Way Out of Afghanistan

For more than a decade, every debate about U.S. policy in Afghanistan has focused narrowly on the number of troops to send or withdraw. U.S. policymakers freely admit there can be no military…

Barnett R. Rubin 11 December 2020

An Afghan farmers harvests opium sap from a poppy field in Zari District in Kandahar province on April 9, 2018. (Getty)

Helmand’s Flower That Threatens Us All

A peace deal inAfghanistanmay be on the horizon. The latest round of high-level negotiations betweenthe United Statesand theTalibanended last week inDohawithout a formal agreement, but with cautious…

Matthew S. Reid and Cybele C. Greenberg 31 March 2019

Building the Nation: Missed Opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan by Heather Selma Gregg

Gregg believes that U.S. security needs will always drive Washington to attempt to salvage failed or fragile states. So the United States needs to understand why it failed to build nations…

by John Waterbury 19 March 2019

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