This week, we look at the situation in Afghanistan, where it would seem the Taliban regime has consolidated its position since it took over Kabul in 2021.
As a result, India is looking for whether it should draw the Taliban closer in a number of ways, a series of measures that have followed after a meeting between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai in January 2025. That meeting marked the highest level at which India has engaged the Taliban since 2021.
Recently, a conference called the Herat Security Dialogue was held in Madrid, for Afghan exiles- who fled the Taliban regime.
Since the Taliban took control of the country in 2021, we look at the situation in terms of the security situation, political infighting, economy, refugees and the treatment of women.
We also spoke to Ashraf Haidari, a former diplomat and the founder of NGO Displaced International, and asked what India’s role can be.
Reading material:
In a first, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri meets Taliban’s ‘Foreign Minister’ in Dubai
Afghanistan refugee crisis explained
Tracking the Taliban’s (Mis)Treatment of Women
Worldview reading recommendations:
1. Letters to my Sisters: Fawzia Koofi, also author of Letter’s to my daughters and The Favoured Daughter, One Woman’s fight to lead Afghanistan into the Future
2. The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan After the Americans Left by Hassan Abbas
3. The Last Commander: The Once and Future Battle for Afghanistan by Gen Sami Sadat, last commander of the Afghanistan National Army
4. Escape from Kabul: The Afghan Women Judges Who Fled the Taliban and Those They Left Behind by Karen Bartlett
5. August in Kabul- America’s Last Days in Afghanistan and the Return of the Taliban by Andrew Quilty
6. Radio Free Afghanistan: A Twenty-Year Odyssey for an Independent Voice in Kabul by Saad Mohseni
Script and presentation: Suhasini Haidar
Editing: Shibu Narayan and Sabika Syed
Published – March 14, 2025 07:51 pm IST
