Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.
The highlights this week: The Taliban mark five years in power in Afghanistan, a Pakistani court orders that former Prime Minister Imran Khan be moved to a hospital, and the U.S. ambassador to India breaks decades of policy precedent with remarks about Kashmir.
The Taliban’s Surprising Stability
The Taliban, mainly because of their abhorrent treatment of women and girls, arguably constitute the world’s most brutal regime. The group also shelters terrorists, and its leaders are sanctioned and globally isolated; only Russia formally recognizes the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government.
The August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has left the Taliban—known more for their warfighting than policymaking—saddled with the responsibility of managing a chronically weak economy without the foreign assistance that long helped prop it up.
