After AUKUS, Russia sees a potential threat — and an opportunity to market its own submarines
Alexey D Muraviev, Curtin University The global opinions on the new AUKUS security pact between Australia, the US and the UK have been decidedly mixed. China and France immediately blasted the deal, while others, such as Japan and the Philippines, were more welcoming. Russia, one…
Who is Mullah Hasan Akhund? What does the Taliban’s choice of interim prime minister mean for Afghanistan?
By: Ali A. Olomi, Penn State The Taliban announced on Sept. 7, 2021, that Mullah Hasan Akhund has been appointed interim prime minister of Afghanistan. The decision comes more than two weeks after the militant Islamist group seized control of much of the country, including…
New Zealand’s latest terror attack shows why ISIS is harder to defeat online than on the battlefield
By: Joe Burton, University of Waikato As Friday’s attack by an ISIS sympathiser in a New Zealand supermarket has shown, ISIS’s extreme ideology still holds strong appeal for some disaffected Muslims living in the west. ISIS ideology did not die in Syria and Iraq with…
US Media Amplifies Afghan Chaos
This week’s stories focus on fallout from the media’s reporting on the events in Afghanistan, with a glance at the great Ben & Jerry’s controversy in Israel. Kabul, Afghanistan on 8/18/2021 © John Smith 2021 / Shutterstock By Peter Isackson The Daily Devil’s Dictionary appears today…
The Taliban wants the world’s trust. To achieve this, it will need to make some difficult choices
By: Niamatullah Ibrahimi, La Trobe University and Safiullah Taye, Deakin University “We want the world to trust us.” In the Taliban’s first press conference since seizing control of Afghanistan, this message was intended to allay fears of what a return to power could mean for…
‘I feel suffocated’: Afghans are feeling hopeless, but there’s still a chance to preserve some rights
Nematullah Bizhan, Australian National University Two days ago, a close friend in Afghanistan told me Kabul seems like a graveyard. Silenced. Helpless. And hopeless. This reminds me of the empty streets and hopelessness during my time under the Taliban’s rule in the late 1990s. People…
Taliban surge across Afghanistan continues as four more cities fall
Insurgents control more than two-thirds of the country and are closing in on Kabul Luke Harding and agencies, 13 Aug 2021 The Taliban’s seemingly unstoppable advance across Afghanistan continued on Friday, as insurgents took control of four more provincial capitals, having on Thursday seized Kandahar and Herat,…
How ‘Afghan’ coats left Kabul for the fashion world and became a hippie must-have
Tim Bonyhady, Australian National University The London launch of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in May 1967 was a musical and fashion landmark. While the clothes worn by all four Beatles startled the journalists and disc jockeys, John Lennon stole the show. He wore…
While US and Denmark are on their way out of Afghanistan, Islamic State is growing
By: Jonathan Tybjerg and Asad Kosha In the past year, a branch of Islamic State has carried out a number of significant attacks in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the United States, Denmark, and the rest of the Western coalition are on their way out of the country….
Afghanistan 2021 Is Not Afghanistan 1996. That Offers Hope for Peace
By Mirwais Wakil and Anthony Pahnke Many pundits, in their commentary on Afghanistan, are not doing their homework. While it is true that the Taliban have advanced in the country as the U.S. and its allies are in the process of withdrawing their forces, reality is complicated. The situation is…