In this compelling episode of the Afghan Eye Podcast, host Sangar Paykhar sits down with Mir-Ali Askerov, a political scientist from the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, to discuss the recent high-level Russian delegation visit t...

In this episode of the Afghan Eye podcast, hosts Sangar Paykhar and Ahmed-Waleed Kakar dive into the implications of Afghanistan’s attendance at the recent 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan. We discuss Afghanistan’s potential strategic interests, regi...

 On 18th March 2024, Afghanistan's remote and southeastern Paktika province found itself subject to aerial bombardment. The airstrikes, carried out in the early hours of the morning, were conducted by Pakistani military planes from across ...

Qatar again has served as the location for Afghanistan-centred gatherings. As a UN-convened conference kicked off, representatives from different countries, international bodies as well as Afghan civil society gathered in Doha as part of what w...

Pakistan concluding fiercely contested elections amidst turmoil and mass claims of irregularities is only the latest development in an eventful 2024. The year has been similarly eventful for Afghanistan's foreign relations. On 29th January, the...

Amidst deteriorating relations between Kabul and Islamabad, news emerged on 18th December. The Afghan ambassador to Pakistan confirmed that an invitation had been extended to Pakistani politician Maulana Fazlur Rahman to visit Kabul. The visit,...

On 1st December 2023, the Taliban's ambassador was greeted by an official at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Bilal Karimi formally presented his credentials to and was received by Hong Lei: the Director General of the Chinese Foreign M...

On 24th November 2023, a conference was convened in the Russian capital of Moscow. Attendees included Russian politicians and an Iranian government representative. The conference was also attended by a number of exiled Afghan politicians: Shukr...

On 6th November 2023, senior and former American diplomat Annie Pforzheimer wrote an article for World Politics Review. In the article, Pforzheimer, who has previously worked extensively as an American diplomat in Afghanistan, highlighted the s...

On 2nd October 2023, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti announced that illegal immigrants residing in the country would be given  one month to return to their home countries.  Whilst not explicitly aimed at Afghans, the major...

In the beginning of April 2023, the Taliban notified the United Nation mission in Afghanistan that Afghan women are no longer permitted to work for the U.N. There are approximately 400 Afghan women who work for the U.N mission in Afghanistan...

A flurry of diplomatic activity over the past months has seen Afghan embassies and consulates in Iran and the UAE handed over to the new Afghan Taliban government. As this diplomatic momentum increases, reports circulate that Tajik...

In this episode of The Afghan Eye podcast, Sangar hosts Jeff Rigsby. Jeff Rigsby was a US military contractor and aid worker during the occupation who is currently living in Afghanistan. Jeff sheds light in the lack of transparency in the Weste...

What is liberalism? What makes liberalism an aggressive ideology that motivates the militarism of Western states? How can dissecting liberalism help us understand the American occupation of Afghanistan?To answer these questions further,...

The Afghan Eye is back!In 2023's first episode, Sangar interviews Ahmed-Waleed on his recent article on the history and legacy of politicised education in Afghanistan. Amidst increasing Taliban restrictions on Afghan women's right to wo...

This episode of The Afghan Brief focuses on the three day long 'Scholar's Conference' gathered by the Taliban in Kabul and its 11-point Declaration. Ahmed-Waleed and Sangar discuss the assembly's Declaration, its lack of political inclusivity a...

Who is to blame for the current diplomatic deadlock between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the West? Have the Taliban really changed?Is there such thing as Taliban 2.0? If so, how and why is it different from Taliba...

In the third episode of The Afghan Brief, the latest issue of national significance from Afghanistan is discussed. Sangar and Ahmed-Waleed dissect the convening of a grand assembly of three thousand religious scholars and tribal elders from acr...

 In the second episode of The Afghan Brief, Sangar and Ahmed-Waleed discuss ongoing rescue efforts by the Afghan government and the international reaction to a devastating earthquake in Afghanistan's southeast Loya Paktia region. They also...

On the first ever episode of The Afghan Brief, Ahmed-Waleed and Sangar cover the latest news coming out of Afghanistan, including a travel ban on two officials of the Afghan government. They also discuss signs of seemingly warming ties between ...

What the Afghan national identity? Where does nationalism and ethno-nationalism come from? How should we interpret the call for partition by some fringe groups online? In this episode, host Sangar Paykhar and Historian Ahmed-Waleed Kakar attemp...

Gulmakai Saleh: https://gulmakai.com/https://twitter.com/GulmakaiSalehhttps://www.youtube.com/user/gulmakaihttps://www.instagram.com/gulmakaisaleh/https://www.linkedin.com/in/gulmakai-saleh-937a82a3/https://www.facebook....

After the fall of the previous regime on 15 August, the Taliban are now the de facto government of Afghanistan. Sangar Paykhar spoke to professor Ashok Swain about the prospects of a government led by the Taliban. Ashok Swain is a ...

Ahmed-Waleed Kakar & Sangar Paykhar discuss the subsequent fall of provincial capitals in Northern Afghanistan, the UN Security Council discussion about Aghanistan, the demand from Kabul to sanction Pakistan and Sun Tzu's the Art of War's a...

 Habib Wardak is a political analyst who graduated with an MA in Defence and Strategic Studies from the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies in the University of Pune. He worked as a lecturer at Kardan University's Department of Int...