Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Moscow meeting with the Taliban showed that advancing peace talks will require innovation and risk-taking. It is essential that the United States reengage in this process directly and keep pushing on all fronts until a format works.
Two nuclear-armed rivals in South Asia—India and Pakistan—have not fought openly since the 1999 Kargil conflict, but the lack of active war has not meant the absence of violence.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Zalmay Khalilzad would become an adviser on achieving reconciliation in Afghanistan. This comes after the Trump administration directed the State department to see whether formal talks between the Afghan government and Taliban are possible.
While the outrage against outsourcing the Afghan war is real, the tragic reality is that the growing role of private armies is very much part of the modern hybrid wars.
It is the nature of the negotiation between the United States and Pakistan—the most important external players in the Afghan conflict—that will determine the outcome.
While the hopes for a durable peace might be premature, the conflicts in Kashmir and Afghanistan might be entering a new phase in their long and depressing history.
A regular survey of experts on matters relating to Middle Eastern and North African politics and security.
The latest attacks by the self-proclaimed Islamic State may destabilize the upcoming Afghan elections, even as U.S. President Donald Trump questions the U.S. commitment to the country.
As Washington, Rawalpindi, Kabul, and the Taliban recalibrate their positions, Afghanistan is entering a very fragile moment.
Over the last couple of years, the gap between the Russian and U.S. strategies in Afghanistan has grown. Russia increasingly believes that the U.S. approach isn’t working and is convinced that it must be prepared to deal with an unstable Afghanistan on its own.