Violent performance is the Taliban’s language. If we view them as savage, backward or misogynistic, the opportunity to learn how to face them is missed.
Scott Lucas, foreign policy expert, and Kambaiz Rafi, political economy researcher, discuss potential developments in Afghanistan under the new Taliban government.
With travel to Afghanistan is nearly impossible right now and difficult questions over the types of evidence that would be admissible in court, investigators have their work cut out for them.
Afghanistan is facing a looming hunger crisis. But the world must engage with the Taliban on purely pragmatic and humanitarian grounds, without extending formal recognition.
Taliban fighters stand guard near the venue of an open-air rally in a field on the outskirts of Kabul on October 3, 2021.
Hoshang Hashimi/AFP
The Taliban is responsible for atrocities dating back to the 1990s, but has never been held responsible. The international community can play a role in ending the impunity.
With 95% of households in Afghanistan not consuming enough food and the economy on the brink of collapse, this is a perilous time for the children of the country.
Afghan women are at the forefront of protest against Taliban oppression.
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The age-old idea that Afghan women need rescuing from their men is a western construct that ignores the voices of Afghan women.
International Committee of the Red Cross rehabilitation center staff members assist a Taliban member on Oct. 11, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images
A scholar from Afghanistan outlines what more than $150 billion in assistance did and didn’t accomplish in two decades following the arrival of U.S. troops un 2001.
Taliban fighters investigate inside a Shiite mosque after a suicide bomb attack in Kunduz on October 8, 2021.
AFP
The Taliban say they won’t allow jihadi groups to flourish under their rule. But there is good reason to believe that al-Qaida, IS and other regional groups will benefit from the takeover.
An Afghan musician poses for a portrait with his dilruba in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 18, 2021. About a month after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the music is starting to go quiet.
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The international community, particularly the music and music research communities, must stand with the Afghan musicians when it comes to protecting their cultural rights and human rights.
Afghan women hold ‘silent’ protests in Kabul against repressive measures under the Taliban regime.
Bilal Guler/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Two Afghan women scholars write about how Afghan women’s groups have been fighting for human rights, both now and historically.
Indonesia runs the world’s largest network of madrasas (Islamic schools). They have contributed significantly to girls’ enrolment, and can serve as a model for the Taliban government.
(ANTARA FOTO/Sahrul Manda Tikupadang)
Indonesia can serve as an important model for the Taliban of how Muslim nations and faith-based organisations can play a big role in expanding girls’ education.
Harsh punishments: the Taliban have announced they will reinstate execution and amputations.
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Zahid Mumtaz, Australian National University e Peter Whiteford, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Madrassas don’t just provide an education that may lead to terrorism. They provide critical financial support to impoverished people.
Afghan women march to demand their rights under Taliban rule during a demonstration near the former Women’s Affairs Ministry building in Kabul.
(AP Photo)
How can we reconcile competing claims that colonialism of any kind is detrimental with the view that Afghanistan has been failed by the West?
Mauritanian soldiers stand guard near the border with Mali in the fight against jihadists in Africa’s Sahel region.
Photo by Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images
Jihadi groups take advantage of endemic poverty, inequality, high unemployment levels, illiteracy, ethnic divisions, and poor governance to spread their campaign of violence in the Sahel region.
A gathering during the 73rd anniversary of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2019.
Eko Siswono Toyudho/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Nahdlatul Ulama is the world’s biggest Islamic organization, initiating a reform movement, which it is calling ‘Humanitarian Islam.’
A Taliban fighter, wearing U.S. clothing and carrying U.S. weapons, looks through a captured night-vision device.
Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Nolan Fahrenkopf, University at Albany, State University of New York
Despite efforts to prevent militant groups from getting weapons, they often get their hands on U.S. equipment and use it to attack American troops.
The rug designs tend to contain symbols – AK-47s, 9/11 and drones – that reflect an outsider’s understanding of war.
Kevin Sudeith, courtesy of WarRug.com
War rugs are more reflections of market forces than memorials to suffering.
The Tailban destroyed this Buddha statue dating to the 6th century AD in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March 2001. The photo on the left was taken in 1977.
AP Photo/Etsuro Kondo, (left photo) and Osamu Semba, both Asahi
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban outlawed almost all forms of art while looting and destroying museums. With their resurgence, Australia must strengthen measures to stop trafficking of antiquities.