4+ day, 14+ hour ago   (499+ words) Khalilzad played an instrumental role in securing Baradar’s 2018 release from Pakistani custody, ensuring that the United States had an influential Taliban interlocutor for the peace negotiations Khalilzad was preparing to lead at the time. Pakistani authorities had arrested Baradar in…...

3+ week, 2+ hour ago   (337+ words) Last week, the Taliban scored a pair of victories that may help solidify the group’s rule in Afghanistan and blunt some of the anti-Taliban resistance’s recent progress on the battlefield. Fateh, who had also served as an administrator in Badakhshan’s…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (741+ words) As the Taliban’s reign over Afghanistan enters its sixth year, the Taliban remains stronger, more unified, and better equipped than it was before September 11, 2001. Today, its flag flies across all 34 provinces and roughly 400 districts. Yet beneath an appearance of uncontested…...