The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) (“Pakistani Taliban”) spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, announced a one-month ceasefire and peace negotiations with the Pakistani state on November 8 (Umar Media, November 9). One day later, the TTP emir, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud ordered the group’s fighters, commanders, and shadow governors... MORE

On November 1, Afghanistan’s minister of defense, high-level Taliban leader Mohammad Yaqoob, stated that he bears special responsibility for the safety, physical security and ultimate execution of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project, adding, “we are ready for any sacrifices for this project to... MORE

The extrajudicial murder of a local Pamiri activist by state security police in the mountainous and impoverished Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan has sparked violent protests in that region’s capital, Khorog. The mass demonstrations have so far claimed at least three other lives and left... MORE

Togo Suffers First Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Jihadist Attack On November 11, Togo announced that it had suffered the first ever jihadist terrorist attack on its territory. According to the country’s security forces, the attack occurred in Kpendjal, in the town of Sanloaga, along Togo’s northern border with... MORE

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August, it has struggled to win friends. Achieving international recognition and acceptance still remains an uphill challenge, subject to its ability and, perhaps, willingness to meet the international community’s expectations. The ultra-conservative Islam the Taliban preaches and... MORE

The Taliban Interior Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, hosted a large reception for the heirs and families of hundreds of Taliban suicide bombers in the five-star Inter-Continental hotel in Kabul on October 19 (RFE/RL, October 19). [1] This first-ever public appearance for Haqqani also involved praise for... MORE

Anti-Taliban Resistance Struggles for Relevance in Afghanistan After initially attempting to launch an insurgency against the Taliban following the its conquest of Kabul in August, Ahmad Massoud,  the son of the legendary anti-Soviet mujahideen leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, and deposed Vice President of Afghanistan, Amrullah... MORE

On October 18–23, the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Afghanistan as an observer, held its Combat Brotherhood 2021 strategic military exercises, with three drills codenamed Echelon-2021, Search-2021 and Interaction-2021, in southern Tajikistan’s Momirak and Harb Maydon military ranges. The scale was substantial,... MORE

Introduction With the fall of Kabul on August 15 and the reestablishment of the Afghan Taliban government, an uptick in Islamist terrorism in neighboring Pakistan appears inevitable. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is taking the lead in perpetrating terrorist strikes in Pakistan with a sharp surge of... MORE

Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund is the new Prime Minister of Afghanistan in the Taliban's interim government formed in September (Dawn, September 7). The Taliban captured Kabul on August 15, but delayed the announcement of the interim government twice. Its ministers were ultimately unveiled after three... MORE