Tag: Taliban

The Taliban continue their effort to contrast and eliminate the Islamic State’s threat, confirming the Islamic Emirate necessity to stabilise the country to attract foreign investors and international consensus.

SpecialEurasia had the opportunity to interview Hamid Saifi, a former Afghanistan National Army commanding officer (5thBrigade of the 203rd Thunder Corps) and current member of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, to discuss the actual situation on the ground, the NRF strategy and deepen our knowledge about the local dynamics in Afghanistan.

Russia and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) signed the most significant deal since the Taliban movement came to power last year, confirming Kremlin’s interests in the country and Moscow’s will to become a key regional actor.

The killing of al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul by a U.S. drone strike confirmed Washington’s interests in the region and the Taliban’s policy to host terrorist organisations’ high-ranking leaders in the country, which has become a “safe heaven” for different jihadist groups.

Since the U.S. troops’ withdrawal and the Taliban’s rise to power, Afghanistan has witnessed huge uncertainty, instability and destabilisation due to the terrorist threat and criminal activities, economic problems, interethnic confrontation aggravated by the Taliban interim government, and regional and international geopolitical interests.

Geopolitical Report ISSN 2785-2598 Volume 18 Issue 2 – The 2021 proclamation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan reveals several straightforward and/or controversial relationships with state and non-state figures at the regional level. This intricate web of relations plays a role in outlining the Taliban regime’s assets and challenges.

On April 6th, 2022, SpecialEurasia organised the webinar “Afghanistan: geopolitical interests, humanitarian crisis and security” to address the Italian public opinion on the current situation of the Afghan people after the U.S. troops’ withdrawal and the Taliban’s seize of power.

Recently, a video published by Al-Azaim Foundation, Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP)’s mouthpiece in the region, harshly lashed out against the Taliban and their relations with the international community and particularly neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, China, and Russia.

During the last few days, Russian companies have shown interest in supporting the TAPI pipeline project and the Taliban in reparing their helicopters and training personnel highlighting the Kremlin’s strategy in Central Asia and Afghanistan.

Recent reports have underlined that drug trafficking, terrorist attacks, and Islamic State activities are Afghanistan’s leading dangers that can jeopardise local security and Central Asian dynamics.

The meeting between the Taliban and the Turkmen representaives in Ashgabat underlined the Taliban’s attempt to create partnerships and joint projects with Central Asian republics and Turkmenistan’s necessity to discuss with the Afghan interim Government the promotion of the TAPI natural gas pipeline.

The Foreign Affairs Minister of the Taliban interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi said that he had met with the head of the National Resistance Front Ahmad Massoud and the leader of the Herat militia Mohammad Ismail Khan in Tehran.

The recent border clashes between the Taliban and Turkmen security forces highlight how fragile the security situation is in the region. As a matter of fact, in the last month, the Taliban also collided with the Iranian and Pakistani border guards.

Amid the burgeoning sentimental relationship between Beijing and the resurrected Taliban’s Emirate 2.0, the al Qaeda-affiliated Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) has aggravated its propaganda war against Communist China, hence cleverly concealing its historically faithful jihadi bonds with the Afghan Taliban.

We have monitored terrorist and violent attacks in Afghanistan in 2021 and produced an interactive map to assess which regions are affected mainly by terrorist organisations and analyse how terrorism has evolved or changed since the Taliban’s rise to power.

After the US-NATO troops withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover of power by force, once again…

The Taliban’s pragmatic diplomacy and gradual departure from the Jihadi ideology alienate Central Asian jihadists from the Taliban and strengthen its ardent enemy, the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K). Taliban-backed Uyghur jihadists, who exploited shahids (martyr) exclusively against the Chinese authorities in the past, recently carried out a suicide attack against the Shia Hazara minority under Taliban rule.

The meeting on Afghanistan organised in Tehran confirms the Iranian desire to have a major role in Afghan and regional dynamics and stressed how several Asian countries are strongly promoting greater regional cooperation that in the future might contrast Western local interests and presence.

The recent meetings between Uzbek and Taliban official representatives organised to discuss humanitarian assistance and joint economic…

The recent terrorist attack in Kunduz alarmed Tajikistan and Russia on the stability and security of the Afghan-Tajik borders and the Taliban ability to counter Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan. In this framework, Moscow and Dushanbe are seeking to enhance their cooperation in the security field, confirming the Russian strategy to play a decisive role in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are intensifying their cooperation in different fields to create a strong partnership in Central…

La repubblica centro asiatica del Tagikistan è divenuta il centro della resistenza afghana nel Panjshir e il primo baluardo contro il Governo dei talebani in Afghanistan, fattore che ha indotto Mosca a richiedere un dialogo tra Dushanbe e Kabul per evitare una possibile escalation e un conflitto regionale.

The complete NATO troops withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban mark the beginning of a new geopolitical game in the region, which involves China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, India and Turkey. At the same time, the United States seems to have increased their strategic interest in the Asia-Pacific to counter Chinese sea power and in the Middle East to confront Iran.

The eventuality that Iran has supported the creation of a Shiite militant organisation in Afghanistan has caused diplomatic tensions among Tehran and Kabul and highlighted how fragile the country’s situation might be after the NATO troops withdrawal.

The Russian Federation wants militarily to support Tajikistan with the aim of controlling the borders with Afghanistan and contrasting the possible Taliban offensive in the region.

Since the United States signed the Doha Peace Agreement with the Taliban group, numerous analyses and reports…

Afghanistan is a strategic country in Eurasia, a land where superpowers (British Empire, Soviet Union, the United States) had known their limits trying to control the local population and include it in their geopolitical strategy. Therefore, we decide to discuss current dynamics and future developments of Afghanistan with Jill Suzanne Kornetsky, a Kabul-based consultant, researcher, analyst and social entrepreneur.