Taliban Military, Diplomatic Strategy & Pakistan; U.S. Afghanistan Exit Blowback

NEW DELHI: On ‘Talking Point’, Dr Carol Christine Fair, Professor in the Peace and Security Studies Programme at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, who is currently working on a book project with Saifina Ustad, ‘Militant Piety and Lines of Control: The Literature of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba’, and whose most recent book was ‘In Their Own Words: Understanding the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba’ is in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.

The Taliban have captured a fifth western Afghan province, Herat, today, and pictures show top officials including one of the most famous warlords Ismail Khan in their custody after surrendering. Bill Roggio, Editor of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies’ Long War Journal maps 242 of 407 under Taliban control as of August 12.

In this discussion, Professor Fair analyses the Taliban momentum, the dynamics of resistance, the U.S. sending 3000+ military personnel back to secure the Kabul airport and evacuate its citizens, the Afghan government and security force responses and Pakistan’s role.