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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Segregation and other measures being introduced by the Taliban’s hardline new government are being greeted with widespread protests, many of them led by women.
There are many reasons to be wary of the returned Taliban, but given our investment in the region the Australian government will have to find a way to deal with it.
The caretaker leader for Afghanistan represents a compromise candidate for Taliban factions, but his reactionary past has drawn concern over the fate of minority and women’s rights.
Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation; Scholar -In-Residence Asia Society Australia, Deakin University