TMC Topic Guide
War in Afghanistan
Created: June 17, 2020
Last Updated: July 19, 2022
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Note: This guide contains substantial coverage on the fall of Kabul under the Taliban regime, U.S. military withdrawal, and the incomplete Afghan peace deal. This guide also contains topics on Afghanistan’s domestic and foreign politics, including its involvement with Russia and the International Criminal Court.
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Table of contents
The Taliban’s seizure of power
2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
Russian bounties in Afghanistan
Afghanistan peace deal and negotiations
Politics and conflict in Afghanistan
U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan
International Criminal Court
Foreign involvement
The Taliban’s seizure of power
- Ronald R. Krebs and Jennifer Spindel, “Did the Afghanistan exit diminish U.S. credibility among its allies? Probably not,” September 1, 2021.
- Stephen Biddle and Yuri M. Zhukov, “Afghanistan’s security forces unraveled this month. What broke their seven-year stalemate with the Taliban?” August 31, 2021.
- Adam E. Casey, Dan Slater, and Jean Lachapelle, “Taliban leaders are back in charge in Afghanistan. Can they control their own army?” August 27, 2021.
- David Leblang and Margaret Peters, “How resettling Afghan refugees might help Afghanistan’s future,” August 26, 2021.
- Raphael Lefevre, “Groups like the Taliban have seized power elsewhere. Will the Taliban face similar difficulties governing?” August 25, 2021.
- Fahd Humayun, “5 ways the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan will hurt Pakistan,” August, 17, 2021.
2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
- Christian I. Bale, “Why the Pentagon can’t fully account for all its assets — in Afghanistan or anywhere else,” September 22, 2021.
- Ronald R. Krebs and Jennifer Spindel, “Did the Afghanistan exit diminish U.S. credibility among its allies? Probably not,” September 1, 2021.
- Stephen Biddle and Yuri M. Zhukov, “Afghanistan’s security forces unraveled this month. What broke their seven-year stalemate with the Taliban?” August 31, 2021.
- Jacqueline L. Hazelton, “The U.S. couldn’t build Afghanistan a democracy. That rarely works,” August 31, 2021.
- Adam E. Casey, Dan Slater, and Jean Lachapelle, “Taliban leaders are back in charge in Afghanistan. Can they control their own army?” August 27, 2021.
- David Leblang and Margaret Peters, “How resettling Afghan refugees might help Afghanistan’s future,” August 26, 2021.
- Fahd Humayun, “5 ways the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan will hurt Pakistan,” August, 17, 2021.
- Thiemo Fetzer, Pedro Souza, Oliver Vanden Eynde, and Austin L. Wright, “What are the Taliban’s next moves? Here’s the research on earlier withdrawals from Afghanistan,” August 10, 2021.
- Rachel Tecott, “The Taliban has seized more cities, despite U.S. efforts to build a strong Afghan military. What happened?” August 9, 2021.
- Dipali Mukhopadhyay, “The Taliban isn’t the only challenge for the Afghanistan government,” July 8, 2021.
- Daniel Byman, “The U.S. is pulling out of Afghanistan. Don’t expect an al-Qaeda reboot,” May 1, 2021.
- Asfandyar Mir, “Five things to watch as the U.S. prepares to exit Afghanistan,” April 26, 2021.
- Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Biden plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Here’s what we learned about America’s longest war,” April 14, 2021.
Russian bounties in Afghanistan
Afghanistan peace deal and negotiations
- Zachary Karabatak, “The Taliban’s political leaders signed a peace deal — but its military commanders could put that at risk,” March 16, 2020.
- Jessica L.P. Weeks and Michaela Mattes, “Trump wants a deal with the Taliban. Will it hurt him at home?” February 29, 2020.
- Asfandyar Mir, “The U.S. may be close to a peace deal in Afghanistan. Here are 3 big takeaways,” February 20, 2020.
- Navin Bapat and Rebecca Best, “Here’s why the Taliban might still want to negotiate with the U.S.” September 12, 2019.
- Jason Lyall, “Trump canceled his secret meeting with the Taliban. The negotiations were in trouble anyway,” September 8, 2019.
- Joanne Crouch and Peter Mackenzie, “The U.S. is now negotiating with the Taliban. Would negotiations work with al-Shabab?” February 8, 2019.
- James H. Lebovic, “The point of the Afghanistan ‘peace deal’ is simple: The U.S. wants to get out,” January 31, 2019.
- Barbara F. Walter, “Hoping that peace comes to Afghanistan? Dream on,” January 30, 2019.
- Asfandyar Mir, “Afghanistan’s road to peace won’t be an easy one,” March 30, 2018.
Politics and conflict in Afghanistan
- Stephen Biddle and Yuri M. Zhukov, “Afghanistan’s security forces unraveled this month. What broke their seven-year stalemate with the Taliban?” August 31, 2021.
- Jacqueline L. Hazelton, “The U.S. couldn’t build Afghanistan a democracy. That rarely works,” August 31, 2021.
- Thiemo Fetzer, Pedro Souza, Oliver Vanden Eynde, and Austin L. Wright, “What are the Taliban’s next moves?” August 10, 2021.
- Rachel Tecott, “The Taliban has seized more cities, despite U.S. efforts to build a strong Afghan military. What happened?” August 9, 2021.
- Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, “Northern Afghanistan once kept out the Taliban. Why has it fallen so quickly this time?” July 28, 2021.
- Dipali Mukhopadhyay, “The Taliban isn’t the only challenge for the Afghanistan government,” July 8, 2021.
- Romain Malejacq, “Don’t expect Afghanistan to have a Western-style government. This explains why,” December 17, 2019.
- Dipali Mukhopadhyay, “Afghanistan holds elections Saturday. Here’s what to know about its democratic process,” September 27, 2019.
- Elise Burr and Andrew Shaver, “Afghanistan’s election on Saturday could be bloodier than expected. This explains why,” September 25, 2019.
- Asfandyar Mir, “U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan raises big questions,” December 23, 2018.
- Jason Lyall, “5 key lessons from the Taliban’s deadly resurgence in Afghanistan,” August 19, 2018.
- Geoffrey Swenson, “Trump says ‘our troops will fight to win’ in Afghanistan. Here’s why peace and stability are so elusive,” August 22, 2017.
- Jason Lyall, “Here are the five things you need to know about the 2015 fighting season in Afghanistan,” January 12, 2016.
- Michael Spagat, “The 22 Kunduz deaths aren’t surprising. These two tables show why there will be another devastating attack on civilians soon,” October 7, 2015.
- Max Abrahms, “Mohammad Omar’s death could help the Afghan peace process — or harm it,” August 7, 2015.
- Jason Lyall, “A (fighting) season to remember in Afghanistan,” October 20, 2014.
- Renard Sexton, “The spoils of peace in Afghanistan,” September 26, 2014.
- Dipali Mukhopadhyay and Frances Z. Brown, “Lessons from Afghanistan: Warlord politics aren’t always bad for democracy,” May 13, 2014.
U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan
- Jacqueline L. Hazelton, “The U.S. couldn’t build Afghanistan a democracy. That rarely works,” August 31, 2021.
- Deborah Avant, “If the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, will its military contractors stay? That’s not clear,” February 28, 2020.
- Shibley Telhami and Connor Kopchick, “This recent poll shows how Americans think about the war in Afghanistan,” January 5, 2020.
- Jason Lyall, “If you’re surprised by what’s in the Afghanistan Papers, you haven’t been paying attention,” December 12, 2019.
- Elizabeth N. Saunders, “What we learned from the Afghanistan Papers,” December 11, 2019.
- Sarah Binder, James Goldgeier, and Elizabeth N. Saunders, “The Senate and intelligence community rebuked Trump on national security this week. Here’s why that matters — a lot,” February 2, 2019.
- Andrew Shaver and Debora Hyemin Han, “As the U.S. withdraws from Syria and Afghanistan, here are lessons from the Iraq War,” January 7, 2019.
- Alice Hunt Friend, “This is the one norm Trump didn’t break when he pulled troops out of Syria,” January 6, 2019.
- Michael Tesler, “Trump’s base did not elect him to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan,” January 4, 2019.
- Deborah Avant, “Privatizing the U.S. effort in Afghanistan seemed a bad idea. Now it’s even worse,” September 11, 2018.
- Paul Staniland, “The U.S. military is trying to manage foreign conflicts — not resolve them. Here’s why,” July 16, 2018.
- Jason Lyall and Rebecca Wolfe, “To win ‘hearts and minds’ in Afghanistan, some aid programs worked better than others,” February 19, 2018.
- Govinda Clayton and Andrew Thomson, “The new U.S. plan in Afghanistan may add a local militia. That might be a bad idea,” December 4, 2017.
- Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Five things Trump did on his summer vacation: A foreign policy roundup,” September 4, 2017.
- Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Trump shifted gears on Afghanistan — but what role do foreign policy advisers play? Here's what the research says,” August 23, 2017.
- Deborah Avant, “Private military contractors aren’t going to do a better job in Afghanistan. Here’s why,” July 12, 2017.
- Stephen Biddle, Julia Macdonald, and Ryan Baker, “The Trump administration wants to send more military advisers to Afghanistan. Good luck with that,” May 15, 2017.
- Renard Sexton, “Did U.S. aid win hearts and minds in Afghanistan? Yes and no,” January 6, 2017.
- Jason Lyall, “Silver bullet: Why decapitation strikes (don’t) work,” June 19, 2015.
- Jason Lyall, “How hard is it to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan? Very hard,” January 6, 2014.
- Jennifer Lind, “Why not say sorry? Afghanistan and the politics of apologies,” November 21, 2013.
International Criminal Court
- Kelebogile Zvobgo and Stephen Chaudoin, “Despite U.S. sanctions, the International Criminal Court will keep investigating alleged war crimes in Afghanistan,” June 16, 2020.
- Kelebogile Zvobgo, “Why the International Criminal Court will investigate possible U.S. war crimes — even if the Trump administration says it can’t,” March 9, 2020.
- Mark Kersten, “The International Criminal Court is set to investigate alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan,” December 8, 2017.
- Mark Kersten, “Did the Senate just open the U.S. up to ICC prosecution?” December 10, 2014.
Foreign involvement
- Ariane M. Tabatabai, “Iran’s cooperation with the Taliban could affect talks on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan,” August 9, 2019.
- Samuel Ramani, “Here’s why Russia keeps hosting Afghanistan peace talks that will almost certainly fail,” January 2, 2019.
- Samuel Ramani, “Russia is looking to engage with the Taliban. Here’s why,” January 25, 2018.
- Christopher Clary, “Trump singled out India to do more in Afghanistan. That could easily backfire,” August 24, 2017.