Taliban 
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SOURCE: Washington Post
9/13/2021
As Taliban Return, a History of Afghan Women’s Rights
The feared subordination of women under the Taliban in Afghanistan is not a return to "tradition" but reflects the complexity of differing regions and conflicting ethnic and cultural groups.
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9/5/2021
20 Years of Flawed Assumptions Led to Failure in Afghanistan
by Luiza Carter
"For many Afghans with roots in a culture drastically different than ours, Taliban governance was simply not as barbaric as what we saw through our Western lens. Or at least not worth sacrificing their lives to prevent."
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SOURCE: Asia Pacific Journal
8/15/2021
Comparative Reflections on the Fall of Kabul
by Ben Kiernan
In their rush to compare the fall of Kabul to the 1975 victory of the Vietnamese communists, observers neglect the more relevant comparison between the Taliban and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
8/23/2021
Americans Never Understood Afghanistan Like the Taliban Did
by Shadi Hamid
"The hubris of Western powers saw Afghan traditions as an obstacle to be overcome when, it turns out, they were the lifeblood of the country’s political culture."
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SOURCE: WBUR
8/17/2021
A Brief History of the Taliban
Historian Robert Crews joins Here and Now to discuss the Islamist movement in Afghanistan and their history.
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8/17/2021
After US Withdrawal, Taliban Takes Power Again
by HNN Staff
Historians discuss the roots of the Afghan conflict, the conduct of the American invasion and presence, and the consequences of withdrawal.
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SOURCE: New York Times
8/12/2021
Frederick Kagan: Biden Could Have Stopped the Taliban. He Chose Not To.
The conservative defense scholar and Afghanistan policy advisor argues that Biden could have done more despite inheriting a bad situation.
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SOURCE: NPR
8/15/2021
Perspective on the History of the Taliban
Wazmah Osman of Temple University discusses how the weekend's events, when the fall of Kabul seemed imminent, and explains why the Taliban's defeat was illusory.
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SOURCE: WBUR
8/16/2021
Andrew Bacevich: What Does the Fall of Afghanistan Mean?
Military historian Andrew Bacevich speaks with host Robin Young about what the fast fall of the government in Afghanistan means for the U.S. after 20 years of war in that country.
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SOURCE: CNN
8/17/2021
Historian Robert Crews: Trump Negotiations with Taliban Led to Surrender
Robert Crews, a historian at Stanford University specializing in Afghanistan and central Asia, tells CNN's John Vause he believes the Trump administration's 2020 deal with the Taliban played a role in the group's takeover of the country.
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5/9/2021
A CIA Historian’s Photos of the Afghan War Tell the Story of Those Being Left Behind in Afghanistan
by Brian Glyn Williams
A historian who advised the US military in Afghanistan and traveled extensively in the country warns that America's Afghan allies may pay a terrible price from Biden's proposed troop withdrawal.
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4/11/2021
Making Religious Peace in Afghanistan
by Wayne Te Brake
American policymakers must recognize the distinctly religious components of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, and learn from European wars of religion: the key to ending war is brokering a political agreement that protects religious diversity.
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12/20/2020
Trump's Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan: Part 2 – Is There Even a "Trump Doctrine"?
by Brian Glyn Williams
Many Americans have bought Donald Trump's claim that he seeks to extricate the U.S. from "endless wars," including in Afghanistan. Viewed in the context of his other foreign policy actions, this claim is nonsensical, and undermines the work being done in support of global democracy and American interests.
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12/20/2020
Trump's Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan: Part 1 – Abandoning a Vulnerable Ally in the War on Terror
by Brian Glyn Williams
Donald Trump's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan misrepresents the scope and costs of the American mission and ignores the high stakes of failure for both Afghans and American security, according to a scholar of the War on Terror.
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SOURCE: The Washington Post
September 9, 2019
On or off, peace talks with the Taliban spell disaster for Afghanistan
by Ali A. Olomi
With tweets on Saturday, President Trump killed secretly planned peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David. If history is any indication, the consequences of the Trump administration’s reckless attempt at an agreement and even hastier reversal will be borne out by Afghans themselves — a reality that Afghans know all too well.
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SOURCE: Yahoo News
8-28-15
British Library rejects Taliban trove fearing terror laws
Academics have criticised the British government for creating a "climate of fear" after the national library declined to store the world's biggest collection of Taliban-related documents over concerns it could be prosecuted under terrorism laws.
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8-2-15
Post Mortem: Taliban Leader Mullah Omar
by Brian Glyn Williams
Omar said that giving up Osama bin Laden to the Americans would mean the end of Islam.
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12-28-14
Why Pakistan’s Embrace of Jihadism Is Deadly
by Brian Glyn Williams
The back story to the Peshawar School Massacre.
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SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald
7=29-14
The beautiful, historic shrines that Islamists try to destroy
The militants espouse a radical, puritanical strain of Sunni Islam whereby all shrines or holy sites that honour beings lesser than their God are considered apostate.