The United States is leaving Afghanistan in turmoil after two decades of occupation. The Doha Agreement with the Taliban, bypassing the Ashraf Ghani government, had pulled the carpet from under the feet of the Afghan government – leaving the last rites to be performed by the Afghans themselves in the time-honoured Afghan tradition of military …
Afghanistan for long has been a geopolitical quagmire for Pakistan Afghanistan for long has been a geopolitical quagmire for Pakistan. It has tested our national resilience time and again. From the impugned Durand Line to the enigma of ‘strategic depth’, Pakistan has always been singled out for having ulterior designs beyond its frontiers. Islamabad, nonetheless, …
There are many stories of Afghanistan: anecdotes of violence and occupation by former Soviet Union; rise and downfall of Mujahedeen; saga of Taliban and international forces; gloomy days of suicide attacks, explosions, civilian causalities, starvation, homelessness, sexual abuse, gender based violence, withdrawal of allied forces and the anticipated lawlessness in the coming years. Amid these …
The Afghan scenario is getting darkened by the violence levitating ominously over the horizon yet again. A conservative assessment of the peace prospects by old analysts as well by current observers of the Afghan scene paints a sombre outlook. These assessments blame the US for an unimplementable agreement with the Taliban, leaving the current Afghan …
Let us face the facts; the Taliban want a military solution for the simple reason that the US-led coalition has recognized the locus of the Taliban without conditions. Now, those insisting that the Taliban may agree to come to terms with the Ashraf Ghani government are either too naive to not know what the militia …
A scrimmage in a border station,A canter down some dark defile,Two thousand pounds of education,Drops to a ten rupee Jezail….Strike hard who cares,The odds are on the cheaper man.(Rudyard Kipling) Afghanistan is a place where the staccato sound of the machine intones the funeral dirge of the peace every other decade as a chant de …
There is a strong feeling of deja vu about Afghanistan in the air. The environment, despite the passage of two decades, is eerily reminiscent of the disorder of the early nineties when a power vacuum led to a civil war in all its visceral ramifications ending with the domination of a new Taliban phenomenon over …
Time for India and Pakistan to focus on the dividends of geo-economics with the powers that be. Legendary Urdu poet, Jaun Elia in one of his couplets had said:“AIK HI HADISA TOU HEI, AUR WHO YEH KE AAJ TAK;BAAT NAHI KAHI GAI, BAAT NAHI SUNI GAI.” (The tragedy {of our times} is that to this …
IPRI is one of the oldest non-partisan think-tanks on all facets of National Security including international relations & law, strategic studies, governance & public policy and economic security in Pakistan. Established in 1999, IPRI is affiliated with the National Security Division (NSD), Government of Pakistan.
