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Taliban Emirate flag now flies on the Af-Pakistan Spin Boldak border crossing which has been closed since yesterday. This is the second most strategic entry point to Afghanistan [Torkham in the north is number one] and carries upwards of 30% of Afghan trade. This offers huge revenue stream to...

Actually Britain had already recognized Taliban as a legal entity and thus the peace deal we saw between NATO/US and Taliban. This however builds up on that by saying if Taliban take over Kabul they will engage with them as a Afghan government. This tells us that British officials have been...

Spin Boldak is on the Af-Pak border crossing. Now only Torkham , Ghulam Khan and Gomal remain before Af-Pak border is entirely in Taliban hands. Torkham is very significant as it carries most of the transit trade into Afghanistan.

I agree and at no point did I suggest that those pictures were the norm. However in every society it is the elite that sets the tempo. The direction. The aspiration. If you look at Turkey 1900s Ataturk and his Young Turks were not the normative and certainly not dressed or think or live like...

When we highlight one incident it amounts to distorting the reality. The sad fact is there is absolutely nothing humane about war and particularly a civil war in a country brutalized by 40 years of conflict. No side in this conflict can be proud of their conduct and that of course includes...

Are you being serious or just flippant?

Members here must not conflate the Taliban as being anti-Turkic. Pre 2002 and their emirate they gave refuge to any group that was Muslim and nobody else was prepared to give residency. So many East Turkistan groups had the emirates protection despite what China might threaten, or Uzbek Muslim...

To give an idea of the degree to which the Taliban are buried in Sharia and Islamic interpreation from middle ages can be seen from 2001. Everybody must know that not a single Afghan was involved in 9/11 attack on New York. They were all Arabs, Saudi's, Egyptians, Lebanese etc. So why did...

Clarification: Pakistan badges itself as Islamic but actually most of the country is ran on British era laws. Although mullahs have lot of street power but law making is strictly a parliamentary elective matter. This conveniently means the country talks but does not walk. Taliban on the other...

Afghanistan before the jihad arrived and under communist rule. 1970s...

At a political or national level it is simply impossible. You cannot resolve the contradiction. Islam is a religion and knows no boundaries, knows no geography and is global. This alone is irreconcilable with a modern nation state. Every Islam so called 'republic' is a fraud because it tries to...

What I find remarkable is that border crossings on the opposite side of Af-Pak border have fallen to Taliban. This goes against the common refrain that Taliban are merely a auxiliary of the Pakistan ISI. The fact is Taliban listen to nobody and have vast amount of traction within Afghanistan...

Because presumably Taliban are expected to behave like Mother Teresa of Kolkatta. Wars are often dirty. In WW2 British and American soldiers often shot dead captured German soldiers. So did Germans. Between Russians and Germans this took on altogether another scale of barbarity. But civil wars...

Keep crying 'notorious'. It actually confdirms ISI is earning it's keep. Soon enough Taliban will be back to where they were before Americans came barging in. Ps. Find the time why a entire mountain range is named "Hindu Kush". I am sure you will be pleased by it's etymology. Really. We don't...

And I think I already clarified most of the growth will come in provinces which are sparesely populated. Punjab is already seeing decline. In India on the other hand most of ther growth will take place in areas like Bihar where already there is little space to even take a pee.

Maybe if this country had mismanaged India variant it might have culled a good few % sent down the Indus but alas ....

In my collection of football strips I have - England Argentina Sweden Germany I normally wear these at the gym. I guess I wil have buy Italy now ...

So close but ....

Just. Just maybe. This is finger biting stuff ....

Source: World Bank. Population line diagram over time of China, India, Pakistan, Turkey. Gives a good perspective.