Archives

Afghanistan’s Fragmenting Resistance: A New Front Emerges in the North

Afghanistan’s armed opposition to Taliban rule appears to be entering a new phase, one marked not by the consolidation of existing resistance networks but by their proliferation. Reports of a newly emerged group, the Jabha-e-Rah-e-Bakhsh (Liberation Front), operating under the leadership of Gul Mohammad Pahlawan in Faryab province, suggest that opposition to Taliban rule may […]

Taliban’s Covert Media Influence Network Exposed

The leaked documents, reportedly originating from the Taliban’s intelligence agency, reveal what appears to be a coordinated, multi-million-dollar influence operation. The alleged objective was to pay analysts, journalists, academics, and media activists abroad to promote the Taliban’s policies and shape international narratives. If authentic, the documents suggest that the Taliban are seeking international acceptance through […]

Guilty until proven innocent: Pakistan’s textile trade on trial

When European lawmakers talk about labour abuse in the garment trade, Pakistan is too often cast as the defendant before any evidence is heard. A serious child-labour problem in one corner of the economy becomes, in the retelling, a verdict on an entire export industry. That is not regulation. It is collective punishment by reputation. […]

Five Years of Taliban Rule Built on a Lack of Accountability, Not Reform: HRW

The latest Human Rights Watch report on Afghanistan, released ahead of the Taliban’s fifth anniversary in power on 15 August 2026, reads less like an update and more like an inventory of consolidation. Five years after taking over Kabul, the Taliban have moved well past the early promises of moderation into a governance model where […]

Afghanistan United Front Launches Armed Campaign Against Taliban

General Sami Sadat’s return to the battlefield marks one of the most significant challenges to Taliban rule since the collapse of the Afghan Republic in 2021. Under the banner of the newly announced Afghanistan United Front (AUF), the former commander of the Afghan National Army’s Special Operations Corps announced the launch of coordinated military operations […]

Taliban Shooting on Protesters in Yaftal-e-Payan Led to Multiple Deaths and Wounded

The bazaar in Yaftal-e-Payan looked ordinary that morning. Vendors arranged their stalls, women moved between shops, and the rhythm of daily commerce carried on as it had for years. Then, according to local accounts, a woman was stopped and searched by Taliban fighters, and something in that ordinary day broke. Word spread fast through the […]

Drowning: The Overlooked Public Health Emergency

A recently viral CCTV video has deeply shaken many viewers across Bangladesh. The heartbreaking footage captures a young child struggling desperately to stay afloat in a pond, while another child stands helplessly on the bank, crying out in panic and throwing objects into the water in a futile attempt to save the drowning friend. Despite […]

Kashmir after Article 370: Between Constitutional Change and Political Reality

The Indian government’s decision to revoke Article 370 and Article 35A on 5 August 2019 was presented as a historic constitutional reform that would integrate Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union, eliminate militancy, and usher in an era of peace and development. Nearly seven years later, however, the region remains marked by political contestation, […]

India–Taliban Nexus and TTP Leverage against Pakistan

In a significant twist to the evolving narrative surrounding India’s policy towards post-Taliban Afghanistan, former Afghan Interior Minister General Masood Andrabi recently argued that “New Delhi rapidly recalibrated its Afghanistan policy after the fall of the Islamic Republic in August 2021. India has shifted its focus from supporting the former Kabul government to engaging pragmatically […]