Hey readers, it’s been a long time, I know I shouldn’t left you without a dope beat to step to … but truly, this blog isn’t dead, it’s just been dormant while I’ve attended to other things. So today I thought I’d revisit my Security Scholar roots with some recommended reading on this week’s international security focal point, Afghanistan.

These reports are but a few of what’s being churned out right now. They’ve made the cut because they delve into deeper issues about the country’s future under the Taliban:

Kristian Berg Harpviken, “The Foreign Policy of the Taliban”, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Aug 2021, 3 pages https://www.prio.org/Publications/Publication/?x=12644

Benjamin Jensen, “How the Taliban did it: Inside the ‘operational art’ of its military victory”, Atlantic Council, 15 Aug 2021 https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-the-taliban-did-it-inside-the-operational-art-of-its-military-victory/

Borhan Osman, “Bourgeois Jihad: Why Young, Middle-Class Afghans Join the Islamic State”, United States Institute of Peace, Jun 2020, https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/06/bourgeois-jihad-why-young-middle-class-afghans-join-islamic-state

Thomas Ruttig, “Have the Taliban Changed?”, CTC Sentinel, Jun 2021, https://ctc.usma.edu/have-the-taliban-changed/ (Ruttig is co-director of Afghanistan Analysts’ Network which was based in Kabul.)

Martine van Bijlert on emerging Taliban strategy and Afghan political elite allegiances, Afghanistan Analysts’ Network, 19 Aug 2021, https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/war-and-peace/the-taleban-leadership-converges-on-kabul-as-the-remnants-of-the-republic-try-to-reposition-themselves/

Today’s image also reflects the end of the ADF’s mission to evacuate Australians and visa holders out of Kabul, as announced by the Defence Minister and reported this morning. Image source: Department of Defence