Taliban

Generation Jihad | Fighting terror with terror

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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. Read more →

Generation Jihad | Wheel of Jihad

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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. Read more →

Generation Jihad | Back to Bagram?

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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. Read more →

Taliban denounces International Criminal Court warrant for emir, chief justice

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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. Read more →

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

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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. Read more →

Islamic State map

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

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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. Read more →

Islamic State flag waving on the wind

ISKP’s transnational reemergence

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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. Read more →

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

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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. Read more →

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Generation Jihad Ep. 94 — Al Qaeda has key roles in Taliban’s Afghanistan

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Bill welcomes back to the show Generation Jihad regular Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown. Now a member of the Counter Extremism Project's advisory board, Edmund previously served as the UK's Ambassador to Yemen and later as the coordinator of the U.N. Security Council’s Sanctions Monitoring Team. Edmund's former team at the U.N. just released its latest report on Afghanistan which details (among other troubling issues) just how embedded al Qaeda is in Afghanistan's Taliban government. Bill and Edmund dissect the report's findings. Read more →

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Generation Jihad Ep. 78 — The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Turns One

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Friend of the show LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster joins Bill once again to discuss America's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary — including an ongoing close relationship with al Qaeda, the United States designated the Taliban as "partners in peace" and handed the terrorist group keys to a state apparatus. Afghanistan fell and became the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. But it didn't have to. Read more →