Is The Taliban Victory In Afghanistan Inevitable?

NEW DELHI: Faizabad, capital of Badakshan province in northern Afghanistan, is the eighth to fall to the Taliban in just six days. It seems the Afghan army has given up the fight or is it working to a strategy. At this stage, it’s not clear what that strategy is but there’s no doubt the Taliban’s military advances have been dramatic.

In this conversation on StratNewsGlobal’s show The Gist, Dr. Shalini Chawla, a scholar on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Centre for Air Power Studies in Delhi, gives us a perspective on the Taliban’s military gains, the Afghan government’s strategy going forward, the role of the Shia Hazaras and so on. She notes that the role played by the international community in allowing the Taliban to come this far, cannot be discounted. Also, the role of Pakistan.