Why Joe Biden got everything wrong in Afghanistan
The Biden administration’s view of the world as a diplomatic conversation was disconnected from reality.
ByAfghanistan
Read the New Statesman’s latest comment, long-read features and analysis on Afghanistan.
Yalda Hakim’s Kabul notebook: Two faces of the Taliban, a violent new chapter, and why the Afghan War is not over
With Isis putting the lie to assertions that the terrorist threat has been dealt with, the West may soon discover…
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Why the Biden administration should not sanction the Taliban
Embargoes will almost certainly hurt the people of Afghanistan more than the Taliban itself.
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Can the West exert any influence over the Taliban?
Foreign aid, without which Afghanistan’s economy could collapse, gives the outside world some leverage.
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How should American credibility be judged after Afghanistan?
If US credibility can only be shown through militarily occupying another country, then perhaps it wasn’t worth much to begin…
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How many people has the UK evacuated from Afghanistan?
MPs say only a fraction of people contacting them have managed to get out of the country.
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Who are IS-K and what do they want?
The terrorist group behind the Kabul airport attack has long-standing differences with the Taliban.
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Explosions at Kabul airport: what we know so far
Western intelligence agencies had warned of an “imminent, credible, lethal threat” of a terrorist attack.
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What will happen to the people left behind in Afghanistan?
A largely untold horror is unfolding at the Afghan-Pakistan border as people gather to flee but with little or no…
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First Thoughts: History repeating, the Taliban’s populism, and Rupert Murdoch’s sensitive side
In 1842, in a similarly chaotic fashion as today, the British evacuated 16,000 troops and civilians from Afghanistan.
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Elif Shafak’s Diary: Publishing heroes, Afghanistan’s forsaken women, and the lessons of Turkey’s autocratic turn
Feminists from Turkey are especially alert to what is happening in Afghanistan. For us, the rise of fundamentalism is an existential…
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Personal story: I am Hazara – and I fear for my persecuted people
In 1998 the Taliban massacred 2,000 Hazara people, long the victims of sectarian violence. In my mountains and in my…
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Last of the forever wars: Afghanistan and the limits of liberal intervention
Until the campaigns launched under the “war on terror”, interventionism had some notable successes. But the Afghan conflict has exposed…
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Lyse Doucet’s Kabul notebook: A dystopian airfield, and the Afghans leaving everything behind
As thousands depart with their life in a piece of hand luggage, Afghanistan feels like a nation emptying of some of its…
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The Afghanistan crisis has exposed Global Britain’s delusions of grandeur
Airy assumptions of British exceptionalism have not survived their first contact with reality.
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Why the UK government’s new refugee scheme is failing Afghans
Labour peer and former child refugee Alf Dubs on how vulnerable Afghans are being left helpless.
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The Afghanistan debacle has shown Boris Johnson’s lack of influence on the US
The fall of Kabul could come to exemplify the weakened and confused position of “Global Britain”.
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Will the Taliban receive international recognition?
The militant group will likely attempt to reverse social advances but there are signs of resistance already.
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Where has the Afghanistan crisis left Joe Biden?
Unlike Afghan refugees, who face immediate consequences, American voters can take time to assess their president's response.
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“We are still representing our country“: An Afghan ambassador on serving a deposed government
An Afghan diplomat discusses the collapse of the state they had worked to build, and the moral dilemmas they and…
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