Afghanistan: Time to Talk to the Taliban?
After 16 years of war, is a military solution credible?
January has been bloody in the Afghan capital Kabul, where more than 130 civilians have been killed and many more wounded in a series of attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State group. Suicide bombers have targeted not only security forces but also a hotel, and a crowded shopping street. Does this latest spike in violence mean their tactics have changed, and if so why? The US has recently committed a few more troops to Afghanistan, but after 16 years of fighting, is a military solution credible? Is it time, once and for all, to make peace with the Taliban? At what price, to whom? Does any answer inevitably depend on Pakistan? On Newshour Extra this week Razia Iqbal and a panel of experts discuss the war in Afghanistan and the prospects for peace.
(Photo: an Afghan man holds a wounded child, after a car bomb exploded near the old Interior Ministry building in Kabul on January 27, 2018. Credit: Getty Images)
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Contributors
Michael Semple - Professor at Queen's University Belfast and former deputy head of the EU mission in Kabul
Kate Clark - Co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network and former Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Kabul correspondent
Shukria Barakzai - Afghan MP and Afghanistan's Ambassador to Norway
Brigadier Muhammad Saad Khan - Former Pakistani defence attachΓ© in Kabul
Rahimullah Yusufzai - Editor of The News International newspaper in Peshawar
Broadcasts
- Fri 2 Feb 2018 00:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Fri 2 Feb 2018 09:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet
- Fri 2 Feb 2018 18:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
- Fri 2 Feb 2018 23:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia, West and Central Africa & East Asia only
- Sat 3 Feb 2018 04:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia & News Internet
- Sat 3 Feb 2018 12:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
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The Real Story
Global experts and decision makers discuss, debate and analyse a key news story.