Afghanistan

The Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict: A strategic concern for the US
  • Analysis

    • The Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict: A strategic concern for the US

    Pakistan’s relationship with the Afghan Taliban has shifted from open sponsorship in the 1990s to a silent partnership following 2001 to alienation and belligerence since 2021. Their current conflict, which comes at great cost to both countries and seems to have no easy military or political resolution, also poses a threat to the stability and prosperity of neighboring states. Although American strategic interests in the region greatly diminished following the United States’ military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the region’s altered political dynamics have prompted a growing American engagement with Pakistan and tentatively with Afghanistan. At the same time, the US has become a factor in how both Islamabad and Kabul have come to form their national security strategies.

    Don't believe the hype: The modest reality of the Saudi-Pakistani defense pact
    Image created by Oleksii Liskonih via Getty Images
  • Analysis

    • Don't believe the hype: The modest reality of the Saudi-Pakistani defense pact

    The September 17 Saudi-Pakistani defense agreement generated a wave of overheated commentary about Saudi Arabia now residing under a Pakistani nuclear umbrella and how a new strategic reality was in the offing in the Persian Gulf and South Asian regions. Analysts need to slow their roll. Extended deterrence is an extremely difficult thing to pull off. The devil is in the details, about which we know nothing.

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    Pakistan needs to reframe its regional connectivity push
    Asim Hafeez/Bloomberg via Getty Images
  • Analysis

    • Pakistan needs to reframe its regional connectivity push

    On April 8, the top U.S. diplomat in Pakistan visited the Chinese-operated port of Gwadar — the first such visit by an American official in 15 years. The move appears to be part of a campaign by Pakistan to promote its regional connectivity agenda and simultaneously signal that this effort isn’t solely wedded to China and its Belt and Road Initiative.

    May 25, 2021

    Arif Rafiq

    The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast

    • The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

    Marvin Weinbaum and David Sedney join host Alistair Taylor to discuss the recently announced U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and what it means for the country, the U.S., and the region as a whole.

    April 23, 2021

    Failing to learn from past mistakes, Pakistan caves to the TLP
  • Analysis

    • Failing to learn from past mistakes, Pakistan caves to the TLP

    The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has exposed the Pakistani state’s vulnerability to ultra-conservative Islamist groups that have been mainstreamed for narrow political and strategic purposes by the country’s security establishment and self-serving politicians. Only a week after declaring the TLP a terrorist group and banning it, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government gave in to the group’s demands in the face of violent protests by its supporters

    April 22, 2021

    Vinay Kaura

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    Taliban Leadership Tracker

    MEI’s Taliban Leadership Tracker is a detailed database mapping 1,200 leaders and appointees wielding influence throughout the Taliban government. Produced and maintained by MEI Non-Resident Scholar Javid Ahmad, the database can be used to help identify individuals who wield various forms of influence, ones who may be receptive to dialogue and collaboration, as well as those involved in rights violations, abuses, or criminal and terrorist activities.

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