Afghanistan News & Analysis

Pakistan’s long-cherished notion of strategic depth in Afghanistan has devolved into strategic deadlock, with both parties increasingly viewing each other as threats rather than allies.

Shifts in Asian geopolitics are creating new opportunities for Afghanistan, but administrative and security challenges must be overcome for Kabul to take full advantage of them.

A return of the Bagram Air Base remains highly unlikely, but movement in this direction reflects a tentative warming in US-Afghan ties.

This week we cover the deterioration of US-Venezuela relations in the wake of a US military strike on alleged drug traffickers; Fitch downgrading France sovereign debt to the lowest rating on record; a new government in Nepal after a wave of deadly protests; and signs of destabilization along the Afpak frontier.

Russia’s Taliban recognition could be the start of a trend; however, Afghanistan’s (partial) reintegration into the diplomatic mainstream will add a new layer of complexity to Central Asian geopolitics.

The Trans-Afghan Railway stands as a transformative project for Eurasian trade, representing a strategic corridor that bypasses traditional chokepoints and redefines connectivity from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean.

This week we cover the first global city at risk of completely running out of water in Kabul, new US-China trade talks, the Wagner Group’s withdrawal from Mali, and geopolitical fallout from the Musk-Trump breakup.

The Taliban leadership is seeking to leverage Afghanistan’s considerable mineral wealth in a comprehensive effort to gain wider diplomatic recognition for the regime.

A volatile cocktail of climate stressors, weak institutions, and faltering water diplomacy is setting the stage for future water conflicts in Central Asia.

Long delayed and ever controversial, the INSTC is a ‘sanctions free’ trade corridor that aims to recalibrate Eurasian trade flows. This backgrounder examines the interests and geopolitics surrounding the project.

The discovery of ephedra plants in Afghanistan and a booming end-user market in the Gulf States is fueling a growing drug crisis across the Middle East.

Examining the historical and geopolitical factors driving increased extremism in Pakistan.

Conventional assessments of the Pashtunwali social code and the history of the Pashtun region tend to overlook the geopolitical and colonial factors that fueled the rise of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Those advocating for Taliban recognition must consider the ongoing renaissance of al-Qaeda, a process that is being actively facilitated by the regime.

The Biden administration must stop downplaying terrorist threats in Afghanistan and start viewing security through a regional lens.