Afghanistan: losses, setbacks and impending challenges (part 2)

Ahead of the critical NATO Summit in Belgium on 25 May, 2017, Dr Sajjan Gohel discusses the security conditions and challenges in Afghanistan. In this post, he discussed how the Haqqani Network and the ISIS-affiliated Wilayat Khorasan are making their sizeable presence felt, and the geo-strategic agendas of Afghanistan’s neighbours which are further complicating the situation. In this context, he stresses the political and military decisions made by NATO leaders in 2017 could well decide Afghanistan’s future direction in what remains one of the longest lasting protracted conflicts in the world. This is the second part of of Dr Gohel’s two-part analysis. Read Part 1 on the Taliban’s recent expansion and proposals by the U.S. commander of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, General John W. Nicholson Jr. to stem the deterioration here