Taliban

• ISBN: 978-81-988370-8-0,
• Price: ₹ 1295/-
• E-copy available

• Vishal Chandra
• August 5, 2025
• Book

The Taliban's unwritten and ambiguous 'general amnesty' neither implies Tpolitical integration nor national reconciliation. It's about total control, and about who gets to stay and who gets to come back, and on what terms. In the absence of any credible political opposition, and with more and more Afghans being deported or forced to return to the country, including the exiled members of the previous regime, the Taliban's Contact Commission will remain in business in the foreseeable future. However, reports of violation of 'general amnesty' by the Taliban members, particularly in the case of mid and low ranking former military personnel, have exposed the limitations to the implementation of the amnesty decree across the country.

• Vishal Chandra
• August 4, 2025
• Monograph

Looking beyond high optics associated with the return (often the deportation) of members of the former Afghan Republic to the country, the Contact Commission set up by the Taliban regime in 2022 comes across as a strategic move to present itself as a conciliatory and legitimate state entity on one hand and undercut the support base of the fragmented exiled political opposition on the other. This is best manifest in the fact that the Taliban has opened a pathway for exiled political opposition and former civil and military personnel to return to the country but without yielding any political space or making any provision to integrate the returnees into its governing structures. The commission’s efforts are stymied by violations of the ‘general amnesty’ announced for members of the former regime, lack of employment avenues for the educated non-Taliban workforce, and the ban on higher education for girls and work opportunities for women. In such a scenario, the commission cannot bridge the divide between the regime and the exiled or returnee Afghans, unless the regime itself acts as a bridge connecting diverse ethnicities and identities that make up the Afghan Nation.

• Vishal Chandra
• Occasional Papers

Iran has prioritised dialogue and diplomacy with the Taliban on key issues of water-sharing and border security.

• Deepika Saraswat
• February 11, 2025
• Issue Brief

Unless the Taliban regime adopts relatively non-intrusive social policies and embraces people-centric approaches to governance, it will remain somewhat a mirror image of its old regressive self from the 1990s.

• Vishal Chandra
• November 04, 2024
• Special Feature

With the leaders of the Taliban regime making a concerted effort to reach out to India, and India making it clear that it will remain committed to the people of Afghanistan, the ground appears to have been laid for engagement based on a working understanding on mutual “non-interference” and “non-threat”. However, the challenge lies in building trust between the two sides.

• Vishal Chandra
• Monograph

Recurring flash floods across northern and eastern Afghanistan highlight the vulnerabilities faced by the population compounded by the impact of climate change and internal state failure.

• Puspa Kumari
• July 03, 2024
• IDSA Comments

While there has been a significant reduction in opium cultivation in Afghanistan under the Taliban’s watch, there is a need to more effectively address underlying drivers of opium cultivation.

• Puspa Kumari
• May 22, 2024
• Issue Brief

Despite a difficult economic situation, the Taliban have advertised their efforts towards infrastructure development over the last two years.

• Mr Shailendra Updhayay
• February 19, 2024
• IDSA Comments

Geopolitical and geo-economic reasons account for the Central Asian nations, barring Tajikistan, following a multi-vector approach towards the Afghan Taliban regime.

• Jason Wahlang
• February 19, 2024
• IDSA Comments