Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

NatSecEdge
cipherbrief

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

The Role Pakistan Plays

Conventional wisdom expected the Taliban to pose a security challenge following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan. The Obama Administration and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani pinned hopes on Pakistan, the Taliban’s traditional backer, in arranging talks with the Taliban to manage the extent of the threat posed by the insurgency. The talks are still muddling through and Taliban attacks in provinces bordering Pakistan have increased.

The greater and more complicating threat to order in the region, however, comes from splintering of the Taliban and the possible emergence of factions affiliated with ISIS. Although Pakistan continues to hold out the prospects of a negotiated settlement with the Afghan Taliban, its ability to bring a unified Taliban movement to the negotiating table is very much in doubt.

Keep reading...Show less
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.
Save Your Seat

Related Articles

Afghanistan's Tale of Two Extremist Movements

OPINION — There has been considerable comparison between the Taliban and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as both groups originated from extremist [...] More

Will the new Administration bring new opportunity on Afghanistan?

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — In April of 2024, I offered some thoughts in The Cipher Brief on a possible way forward in Afghanistan. That approach [...] More

Spies Who Come Out in the Summer

CHALK MARKS / OPINION — Intelligence officers in the CIA talk about three things when they are together in the field:How bad things are at [...] More

Is Afghanistan A Lost Cause for America? Observations from One of the Last Americans Out

Is Afghanistan A Lost Cause for America? Observations from One of the Last Americans Out

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — More than two years after its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the U.S. still does not have a clear way forward [...] More

The High Price of Losing Ukraine

The High Price of Losing Ukraine

(This analysis is part of a two-part series first published by the Institute for the Study of War. Their version includes detailed footnotes.)GUEST [...] More

Are 'Cowboy Boots on the Ground' the U.S.'s Secret Weapon in Ukraine?

Are 'Cowboy Boots on the Ground' the U.S.'s Secret Weapon in Ukraine?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — The Biden Administration says it has one more military aid package available for Kyiv before the end of the year and [...] More