As the Taliban ban on girls' schools is expanded to universities, Ahmed-Waleed Kakar examines a century of politicised education in Afghanistan.   Much has been said about the new Taliban government in the sixteen months since their August 2021 takeover. Had the Taliban changed? If so,...

The story of Abdul Razzaq Fattahi, the former Afghan Minister of Commerce, underscores the arbitrariness of the US' notorious Guantanamo Bay prison. Even by Guantanamo Bay's dungeon's noteworthy lax standards of admission, Abdul Razzaq’s imprisonment in the American dungeon was remarkable. He was imprisoned in...

In April 1992, the Afghan Mujahideen triumphed over the Soviet-installed regime in Kabul. It was one of the most important but least understood events in contemporary Muslim history. Despite the high hopes and euphoria, it soon enough degenerated into a brutal civil war that...

The past three months in Afghanistan have been interesting. The Afghan government achieved a rare feat. It attained, through its participation in the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, its peak in international acceptability. Alas, it was followed shortly by another peak, but this time in international unpopularity....

Guest contributor Abdulhakim Allahdad, PhD in Political and Social Sciences at Marmara University, examines potential reasons and consequences to keep girls' secondary schools in Afghanistan closed.  Much changed when the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan came back to power on 15th August 2021. One such change...