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Taliban takes second provincial capital

The Taliban took control of its second provincial capital today. Shibirghan, the capital of the northern province of Jawzjan and the home of warlord Marshall Abdul Rashid Dostum, fell to the Taliban. Dostum...

Taliban takes full control of Nimruz province, seizes capital

The Taliban took control of Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, without a fight. The western locale is the first provincial capital to fall under Taliban control since it launched its offensive across...

Taliban, Afghan forces battle for control of Helmand’s capital

After days of heavy fighting with Afghan security forces, the Taliban has entered Laskhar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. The city is in danger of falling to the Taliban. The Taliban is now battling...

Nearly half of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals under threat from Taliban

With rapid gains in recent days, the Taliban now threatens 16 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals, while 18 of the provinces in their entirety are under direct threat of falling under Taliban control,...

Analysis: Predicting the coming Taliban offensive

As the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan after two decades, the Taliban is doubling down on its efforts to retake the country by force of arms to restore its Islamic Emirate. The question isn’t whether...

America Does Not Have to Choose Defeat in Afghanistan

U.S. reportedly targets 2 senior al Qaeda figures in airstrike in Syria

Two al Qaeda leaders were reportedly killed in a drone strike in Syria’s Idlib province earlier today, according to jihadists on social media. Pictures of the car carrying them were posted on Telegram...

FDD Announces Research Series on COVID-19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Washington DC, April 6, 2020) – The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) announced a new series of research products focused on COVID-19. The research is designed to help...

COVID-19 in Afghanistan

As U.S. forces prepare to depart Afghanistan next year, the Taliban has seized on the COVID-19 crisis to present itself as an entity capable of governing more effectively than the elected and internationally...

Taliban IED blast kills 35 civilians in western Afghanistan

A roadside bomb planted by the Taliban in the western Afghan province of Farah killed 35 civilians and wounded 27 today. But the Taliban continues to deny responsibility for attacks that clearly targe...

UN: Islamic State replaced leader in Afghanistan after visit from central leadership

The Islamic State’s central leadership replaced their top man in Afghanistan after a meeting earlier this year, according to a recent report submitted t...

Senior al Qaeda official praises Taliban’s ‘victory’ in Afghanistan

Asim Umar, a senior al Qaeda official, has released a lengthy statement praising the Taliban’s “victory” in Afghanistan. He claims that America’s “defeat” proves that its superior technology...

Taliban and Islamic State cause majority of civilian casualties in Afghan war, UN finds

More civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2018 than in any of the previous nine years, according to a newly released report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The majority...

US and partner nations seek to disrupt Iran-Taliban nexus

The War Rages, The White House Ducks, Death Abounds

You know all this, of course, because you’ve been reading these blogs all along.  But as my mother used to tell me with her charming smile and melodious voice, repetition is the basis...

Green-on-Blue Attacks in Afghanistan: The Data

Data last updated on Oct. 16, 2012 I. Introduction II. Data Summary...

A Desperate ‘Longshot’

Some in the Obama administration are desperate to jumpstart peace negotiations with the Taliban in advance of NATO’s summit in Chicago next month. To date, those negotiations have...