The dangers of empowering the Taliban

For years, the world tried to soften the Taliban’s extremist ideology by exposing them to modernity. As an insurgency they learned diplomacy and negotiation tactics, but their medieval thinking remained just as rigid. Now that the Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the international community continues to appease them, assuming it can convince them to form an inclusive government and ease their regressive policies while alleviating the country’s worsening humanitarian disaster. That is a naïve assumption that overlooks the root causes of the current crisis. Not only will the international community not get what it wants, but it also risks creating a much greater crisis: a Taliban theocracy that institutionalizes its repressive rule at a steep human and economic cost.

The 20-year-old Afghan republic comes to a crashing end

Marvin G. Weinbaum
Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies

After two years of failed diplomatic efforts, for a time it seemed there might be an agreement with the Taliban reached by the Ghani regime and its international backers, albeit one very different than a long-sought power-sharing arrangement. With Taliban forces bearing down on Kabul, discussions involving the entry of Taliban forces into the capital and the formation of an interim government were being conducted in Doha.

Finance : les « petits » assureurs africains font de la résistance

En Afrique, d’Abidjan à Douala, une poignée d’irréductibles assureurs locaux résiste à l’assaut des poids lourds panafricains et internationaux, dans une période propice aux fusions-acquisitions.

Il aurait fallu barrière plus infranchissable pour que Bertrand Casteres, le directeur général du groupe mauricien d’assurances Mauritius Union Assurance (MUA), rebrousse chemin. Rendez-vous était pris de longue date pour venir négocier, à Paris, les ultimes détails du partenariat censé donner un nouvel élan à son groupe, fondé en 1948. Alors, en ce mois de juillet 2021, même si le vaccin contre le Covid-19 qui lui a été administré à Port-Louis quelques mois auparavant n’est pas reconnu par les autorités européennes, qu’à cela ne tienne : le quadragénaire en fait un deuxième, reconnu celui-là, pour pouvoir prendre l’avion. La conclusion d’une affaire vaut bien une double injection…

Islamic State collaborators received Turkish citizenship, official report shows

A leaked report has revealed details about how the jihadi group used Turkey to traffic money and obtain supplies.

Shortly after the Islamic State’s (IS’s) leader was killed in a Syrian hideout near the Turkish border, a leaked report by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) revealed details about how the jihadi group used the country to traffic money and obtain supplies, including drone parts.

Turkish opposition forms plan to oust Erdogan, restore parliament’s power

At a weekend summit, six party heads charted a path to ending the executive presidential system that critics say has eroded the country’s democratic institutions.

Leaders of six Turkish opposition parties convened this past weekend in Ankara to chart a path back from the executive presidential system, which they say concentrates too much power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the detriment of parliament, the courts and other democratic institutions.

Undemocratic Goals Of The Summit For Democracy

The US-sponsored virtual summit for democracy on December 9 and 10 was an unprecedented event; a show of American innocence and righteousness. The conference, which selectively and unjustifiably invited the leaders of 100 countries, supposedly was to focus on fighting corruption, defending human rights, and confronting authoritarian regimes. But the main target of the conference was first China and then Russia. Thirty percent of the leaders invited to the conference, according to the Freedom House, are either not free at all or have little freedom.