Mazar-i-Sharif

August 14, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Taliban encircling Afghan capital Kabul, prepping final assault through east

The Taliban’s seemingly unstoppable offensive, which has seen the group take control of more than half of Afghanistan’s provinces in only nine days, is circling around the country’s capital and largest...

August 12, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Taliban overrun Herat City, Qala-i-Naw

The Taliban continues its blitzkrieg assault across Afghanistan, overrunning two additional provincial capitals today, including Herat City, one of the largest in Afghansitan. The Taliban took full control...

August 11, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Taliban seizes Afghan Army corps headquarters, 2 northern airports

The Taliban seized control of the Afghan National Army’s 217th Pamir Corps headquarters, as well as airports in Kunduz City and Shibirghan, as their onslaught in the north continued on Wednesday. The...

August 10, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Farah City, Pul-i-Khumri fall to the Taliban

The Taliban’s all-out assault in northern and western Afghanistan resulted Tuesday in control of two additional provincial capitals in Farah and Baghdad provinces. That marks eight provincial capitals...

August 10, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Former headquarters of Northern Alliance falls under Taliban control

The Taliban seized control of Badakhshan province and its capital city, Faizabad, on Tuesday. The northeastern province served as headquarters to the Northern Alliance prior to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan...

July 9, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Taliban squeezes Afghan government by seizing key border towns

In addition to militarily taking control of key districts throughout the country, the Taliban is cutting off the key revenue sources to the Afghan government by taking control of important border crossings...

June 29, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Taliban doubles number of controlled Afghan districts since May 1

The Taliban has taken control of more than 80 districts in the two months since launching its offensive against the Afghan government after President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would withdraw its forces...

June 25, 2021 | Thomas Joscelyn |

The Situation in Afghanistan Is Much Worse Than You Realize

The U.S. military is downplaying the Taliban’s gains, and the U.S. and U.N. are pretending there is a viable peace process.

May 25, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

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...

May 19, 2021 | Bill Roggio, Caleb Weiss

Taliban has ‘surrounded’ five Afghan provincial capitals

The Taliban has “surrounded” five provincial capitals in Afghanistan as of Feb. 2021, according to the Lead Inspector General for Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. FDD’s Long War Journal has assessed...

March 3, 2021 | Bill Roggio |

Afghan security forces withdrawing from checkpoints, bases

The Afghan military abandoned a base in Bala Murghab district in Badghis province. This video of the abandoned base was published by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. The Ministry of Defense has confirmed...

May 23, 2019 | Thomas Joscelyn |

John Walker Lindh fought for al Qaeda’s pro-Taliban force

John Walker Lindh, an American who fought on the side of the jihadists in Afghanistan both before and after 9/11, was released from prison earlier today. In late 2001, Lindh and his fellow fighters surrendered...

May 26, 2017 | Thomas Joscelyn

Unfinished Business

Donald Trump is fond of claiming that his predecessor mismanaged America's role in the world. "And I have to just say that the world is a mess. I inherited a mess," the president noted durin...

May 31, 2016 | Thomas Joscelyn The Long War Journal |

Analysis: Iran has supported the Taliban’s insurgency since late 2001

On May 21, an American drone strike ended Mullah Akh...

July 13, 2015 | Emanuele Ottolenghi, Saeed Ghasseminejad

Iran’s Very Active Posture Against IS in Iraq Finds No Match in Syria

Since her return from Tehran in April, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has argued that Iran can be a reliable partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. At the Paris talks this m...

January 7, 2015 | Daveed Gartenstein-Ross New York Daily News

Reaction to the Charlie Hebdo Massacre Shows How We’ve Lost Our Free-Speech Spine

A backward slide since the clarity that followed a fatwa against Salman Rushdie

June 9, 2014 | Thomas Joscelyn

The LA Times Whitewashes the Taliban Five

There is a concerted push to sanitize the records of four of the five Taliban leaders transferred from Guantanamo to Qatar. But before delving into some of the specifics, let us recount the basic...

May 6, 2013 |

China’s Ruthless Foreign Policy is Changing the World in Dangerous Ways

Are we witnessing the end of the “American age”? It depends whom you ask. But one thing is certain: Thanks to the near-bankruptcy of the American welfare state, Washington is losing b...

April 15, 2013 | Bill Roggio The Long War Journal

ISAF Operations Against IMU in 2013 at Highest Rate Since War’s Start

This past week Afghan and Coalition special operations forces conducted five raids targeting the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in northern Afghanistan. The five raids reflect a s...

March 18, 2013 | The Long War Journal

Afghan Forces Thwart Unprecedented Terror Plot in Kabul

 By LWJ Staff Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) forces scored a major coup on March 12, breaking up a suspected Haqqani Network terror cell that was hours away...