Dr. Sohail Mahmood – 12 September 2021 On August 30, the war in Afghanistan ended. America had managed to evacuate some 123,000 civilians from Kabul, including 6,000 Americans. The twenty-year war had a high cost. Some 2,461 US soldiers and civilians were killed. On August 26 a terrorist bombing killed 13 soldiers in Kabul. President Biden on August 31, 2021…
Amy Kazmin, Financial Times – 9 September 2021 Upon taking over the city, the Taliban decimated Kabul’s colourful street art which, for many, had provided a cheerful sign of hope during troubled times. In this article on the FT, Amy Kazmin looks at the outlook for arts and culture within the country under Taliban rule.…
Helen Holmes, Observer – 8 September 2021 According to this article, the resurgence of the Taliban and chaotic scenes in Kabul cause uncertainty and concern over the future of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. This concern is particularly intensified when looking at previous incidents such as that in 2001 when the Taliban destroyed the Buddha statues in…
Shadi Hamid, The Atlantic – 23 August 2021 America’s nation-building fantasies painted over the realities of a failed state and created an insurmountable barrier between Afghan citizens and the US military, according to this article on The Atlantic. Instead, the Taliban made their return through grass-root dispute resolutions. Read the full article here.
The Conversation Weekly Podcast – 26 August 2021 In this podcast episode, The Conversation talks to two Afghanistan experts about the Taliban’s history and the events in the past two decades that have lead to their resurgence and the takeover of Kabul. Listen to the podcast here.
William Dalrymple, UnHerd – 30 August 2021 The correlation between the First and Fourth Anglo-Afghan War is substantive and a grasp of history dating back to the first war from 1939-42 would have, according to this article, prevented a disastrous war and avoided another military humiliation for the West. Read the full article here.
Anand Gopal, The New Yorker – 6 September 2021 “All the women I met in Sangin, though, seemed to agree that their rights, whatever they might entail, cannot flow from the barrel of a gun—and that Afghan communities themselves must improve the conditions of women”. In this poignant piece on The New Yorker, Anand Gopal…
Beyond the daily scenes of terrified Afghans striving to find a way through to the airport in Kabul as they seek a way out of the country, the significant longer-term issue that we need to be aware of is the changed geopolitical landscape of Central Asia. Roddy Gow – 9th September 2021 How will the…
Christopher Ankerson, MIT Technology Review – 23 August 2021 “If wars are fought through innovation, the Taliban won”. After 20 years of conflict, this article on MIT Technology Review argues that the technological advances within the US military have not been as pronounced as others would argue and, in fact, the Taliban have won the…
