Tag Archives: Taliban

Generation Jihad | Fighting terror with terror

| December 19, 2025

According to the Taliban’s self-assessment (what could go wrong), Afghanistan is “stable” — but according to reality, it’s not. Terrorist groups still operate openly, Al Qaeda remains embedded, and the same extremists are now being trusted to “fight” other extremists. Bill Roggio and Edmund Fitton-Brown break down why outsourcing counterterrorism to jihadists is a fatal mistake — and why the so-called “peace of the Taliban” comes at an unbearable price: the erasure of half the country’s population and the return of Afghanistan as a global terror hub.

Generation Jihad | Wheel of Jihad

| October 23, 2025

The Taliban, a monster Islamabad built but can’t control, is waging a war against Pakistan—and it shouldn’t surprise anyone. After decades of Islamabad playing both arsonist and firefighter—nurturing the Taliban, harboring al Qaeda, and weaponizing jihad against India—Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn reunite to dissect why the blaze is finally backfiring on Pakistan.

Afghan Taliban, Pakistani military clash along the border

| October 12, 2025

The Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani military each heralded their operations as a success and claimed to have inflicted high casualties on the other’s forces. The Afghan Taliban’s support for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) is creating fissures between the two allies.

Generation Jihad | Back to Bagram?

| September 23, 2025

Four years after America’s chaotic retreat from Afghanistan, President Trump has said he wants US forces back at Bagram Air Base — or as Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn call it: a fantasy. They explain why the Taliban will never allow it, China wouldn’t tolerate it, and that Washington still hasn’t learned. From Doha to Abbey Gate, Bill and Tom retrace how America’s exit empowered jihadists—and why talk of going back is pure madness.

Taliban denounces International Criminal Court warrant for emir, chief justice

| July 10, 2025

After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Taliban Emir Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for human rights abuses, the Taliban rejected the legitimacy of the court and described the action as an attack against Islam. Akhundzada and Haqqani have served in the Taliban’s harsh judicial system for four decades and are significantly responsible for the group’s extreme policies.

Al Qaeda and Allied Group safe houses in Afghanistan

Taliban denies Afghanistan is a haven for terrorists

| June 30, 2025

After US Congressman Bill Huizenga said, “Afghanistan has once again become a hotbed for terrorists looking for safe harbor,” the Taliban’s spokesman denied the presence of terrorist organizations despite evidence that Al Qaeda and other terror groups are operating in the country.

Taliban denounces Israeli strikes on Iran

| June 17, 2025

The Taliban sided with Iran and condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military targets. Iran has a long history of supporting the Taliban since 9/11, and the Taliban appears to be returning the favor.

Taliban eulogize Mullah Mansour despite his role in hiding the death of Mullah Omar

| June 10, 2025

The Taliban issued a glowing eulogy for Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the group’s second emir, to mark the ninth anniversary of his death in a US airstrike. However, the group failed to address Mansour’s role in concealing the truth about the death of Mullah Omar, the group’s founder and first emir. This deception led to a major division within the Taliban and the rise of the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province.

Ahmad Massoud

Anti-Taliban groups conclude fifth Vienna Conference

| March 4, 2025

Over 90 former leaders of the previous Afghan government, civil society representatives, and anti-Taliban resistance leaders attended the conference at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs and called for help forming a transitional government.

Islamic State map

Analysis: From Afghanistan to America: the rising reach of the Islamic State Khorasan Province

| February 17, 2025

Four years after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the threat posed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has expanded beyond the region, now endangering both America and Europe. With the group actively recruiting and transferring fighters across borders, regional actors such as the Taliban, Iran, Tajikistan, and Pakistan have proven unable to curb its growth.

Taliban’s minister of refugees killed in suicide attack in Kabul

| December 11, 2024

Khalil al Rahman Haqqani was the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s minister of interior and one of the group’s two deputy emirs, and a brother of the late Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani Network. Khalil was a US Specially Designated Global Terrorist who had “acted on behalf of” Al Qaeda’s military.

Analysis: When did the US lose Afghanistan?

| August 30, 2024

Three years after the fall of Afghanistan, American politicians, policymakers, generals, and foreign policy “experts” can’t admit we lost the war. If they did, they would have to own their role in that failure.

Taliban flag

Turkish charity leaders meet with Taliban officials

| June 19, 2024

A recent meeting between Turkish aid organization representatives and the Taliban’s deputy prime minister highlights renewed economic and investment interest by Turkish entities in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s growing ties with Turkey are a worrying development as Afghanistan remains a haven for terrorists and narco-state.

U.S. offers $5 million reward for member of Al Qaeda’s top leadership council

| June 11, 2024

Hamza al Ghamdi is a legacy Al Qaeda leader who fought alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviets, led bin Laden’s bodyguard, organized terror attacks in Tajikistan in the 1990s, and fought at the battle of Tora Bora. He is currently a member of Al Qaeda’s shura, or executive leadership council. Ghamdi is likely based in Afghanistan or Iran.

Islamic State flag waving on the wind

ISKP’s transnational reemergence

| June 10, 2024

Leveraging its stronghold in Afghanistan and networks across Central and South Asia, ISKP is surging as a formidable transnational actor, posing a threat from Asia to Europe. The Taliban’s self-portrayal as a counterforce to ISKP raises concerns about their true motives and the perpetuation of regional instability.

Opium protests catalyze anti-Taliban sentiments

| May 20, 2024

Afghanistan has grappled with a surge in terrorism, deepening ethnic rifts, protests, and the devastating impact of natural calamities in recent weeks. Two years into their control of Afghanistan, the Taliban is struggling to govern as a state actor.

Generation Jihad Ep. 123 — The Afghanistan affliction

| December 7, 2023

Bill is joined by Stu Velasco and Zach Popp of The Boardwalk Podcast (also hosted by Kyle Reynolds who couldn’t make it, shoutout Kyle Reynolds) to discuss the trials and tribulations of their time in service to the U.S. during the long war.

Generation Jihad Ep. 120 — Yes, al Qaeda is still a threat

| November 29, 2023

In a slight detour from our Israel coverage, Bill and Caleb are joined by counterterrorism expert Sara Harmouch to discuss her recent article that sounds like it was written for Long War Journal but was actually written for War on the Rocks, called “Al-Qaeda: A Defeated Threat? Think Again.”

They debunk the latest example of President Biden’s insistence that al Qaeda no longer has a presence in Afghanistan and discuss how U.S. rejection of intelligence is neither new nor at odds with its dangerous habit of disconnecting dots pertaining not least of all to al Qaeda.