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  • Politics
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  • Afghanistan

A man walks across a bus stand at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Torkham on October 13, 2025, amid cross-border clashes between the two countries. Abdul MAJEED / AFP

Border clashes recall Pakistan's tricky history with the Taliban

The flare-up is no isolated episode. Rather, it is the most dangerous chapter in a fraught, decades-long relationship that began during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s.

Kaswar Klasra 16 October 2025
An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier stands guard at a gate of a hospital inside the Bagram US air base after all US and NATO troops left, some 70 Km north of Kabul on July 5, 2021. WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP

Why Trump wants the Bagram Air Base "back"

Afghanistan's ancient town of Bagram once sat on the Silk Road, along a key passage from India. Today, it is sought by America, Russia, and China for different reasons that are no less strategic.

Kamal Alam 14 October 2025
Local residents walk past a house destroyed by an earthquake that killed nearly 1,000 people and devastated villages in eastern Afghanistan, on September 1, 2025. AFP

For Afghan quake victims, sympathy came faster than help

An earthquake in Afghanistan earlier this week levelled entire villages and left people trapped under rubble for days, but in the shadow of the Hindu Kush, saviours were thin on the ground

Kaswar Klasra 04 September 2025
Laura Hegarty_Al Majalla

Mike Waltz: The US war veteran-turned-NSA chief

Trump's new National Security Chief has already gone after officials who took part in Biden's blunderous exit from Afghanistan—a war he served in and learned a lot from

Kamal Alam 02 February 2025
Indian soldiers prepare for the guard of honour before the arrival of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the celebrations to mark Independence Day in New Delhi on August 15, 2023. Sajjad Hussain/AFP

Afghanistan is important to India despite New Delhi’s policies

India was close to the pre-Taliban regime but it collapsed when the US pulled out in 2021 and its successors now look to Russia and China. A land link to Central Asia, India knows it must re-engage

Shakir Husain 15 August 2024
Smoke rises from an explosion after a suicide squad tried to storm an army garrison in Bannu on July 15, 2024. Karim Ullah/AFP

Pakistan and Afghanistan in downward spiral after garrison attack

The Taliban's inability to deal with terrorist groups on its soil means Islamabad has launched its own military action over the border. To restore order, international mediation is now needed

Kaswar Klasra 14 August 2024
Saidakrami Murodalii Rachabalizoda, suspected of taking part in the attack on a concert hall that killed 137 people in Moscow, which IS-KP claimed, sits inside the defendant's cage on 24 March 2024. AFP

ISKP: Who are the murky terrorists behind the Moscow concert hall attack?

The Islamic State Khorasan Province has a history of carrying out attacks in central Asia, but its leadership and structure are largely opaque. Al Majalla explains.

Abdullah F. Alrebh 30 March 2024
Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the movement has violated the rights of women and girls, according to Amnesty International. In the photo, a Taliban member stands guard in front of a line of women waiting to receive aid AP

Afghanistan braces for another difficult year ahead

More than two years after their takeover, Taliban rule continues to come at a painful cost for Afghan citizens

Omer Onhon 28 December 2023
Afghan nationals carry placards as shout slogans during a demonstration against the Taliban government in Islamabad on August 15, 2023, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. AFP

Two years of Taliban rule: The view from Afghanistan's neighbours

Both Iran and Pakistan have supported some elements of the Taliban in the past in political plays to weaken Afghanistan. But things have not panned out the way that they had hoped for.

Shelly Kittleson 17 August 2023
Speaking to Al Majalla in Vienna just before an Afghan opposition meeting, Massoud warns of dramatic dangers that lie ahead for the world as the Taliban grows more powerful John Berkeley

Ahmad Massoud: Ignoring the Taliban threat jeopardises global security

In an exclusive interview with Al Majalla, the Afghan opposition figure warns that while the world is distracted with other global issues, the Taliban is consolidating its power

Ibrahim Hamidi 21 June 2023
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Al Majalla
Politics

Lebanon-Israel talks: diplomacy under bombs

20 May 2026

Beyond Israel's immediate security aims lies a much larger struggle over Lebanon's future—one that will unfold over years, in multiple stages, and cannot be reduced to a simple question of force.

Michael Horowitz
Lamine Yamal raises the Palestinian flag during Barcelona's celebrations of their Spanish League title in Barcelona, ​​2026. AP
Culture & Social Affairs

How Gaza pushed Israel out of Europe’s moral order

18 May 2026

Football star Lamine Yamal's hoisting of Palestine's flag, and the Eurovision audience's booing of Israel's contestant, show how Israel has lost its PR edge

Shadi Alaa Aldin
Axel Rangel Garcia
Politics

Why the US clings to a failed siege strategy in Cuba

15 May 2026

Crippling US sanctions on Havana were designed to force regime change, but six decades of crippling embargo have only cemented it

Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra
A gas facility off the Suez Desert Road outside Cairo, Egypt, on 1 September 2020.
 Reuters
Business & Economy

Egypt repays energy firms with an eye on self sufficiency

19 May 2026

Cairo hopes to gain the trust of partners through its regular payments to energy firms, so that they will be more inclined to invest in gas exploration activities

Sharif Mohammad
Mark Smith
Politics

The philosopher king of Palantir: Alex Karp says the quiet part out loud on X

18 May 2026

The tech CEO's manifesto, where he champions US military dominance and the use of AI weapons, has been described by some as the 'ramblings of a supervillain'

Bryn Haworth

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OPINIONS

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Michael Harari
Michael Harari

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Europe’s secret Plan B to replace NATO

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