Main content

How do the Taliban keep going?

The group has taken more territory in the past couple of months than it has at any time since being ousted from power in 2001

The Taliban is advancing in Afghanistan, launching major offensives to retake key cities as the last remaining US and international forces prepare to pull out. The group has taken more territory in the past couple of months than it has at any time since being ousted from power in 2001. Tens of thousands of Taliban fighters have been killed during twenty years of fighting, yet the militants remain a potent threat to the survival of the Afghan government, its military, and other institutions nurtured by global powers. So what’s the secret behind the Taliban’s longevity? The UN says the sale of opium and illegal mining provides them with a steady stream of income, as do local taxes. Officials in Kabul also allege that the organisation is being propped up by foreign governments and that it continues to welcome foreign fighters in its ranks. Global efforts to starve them of funds have failed and Taliban officials now openly speak of victory, insisting that the United States has β€˜lost’. Who’s helping to prop up the Taliban and what does the last two decades tell us about their strength and potential after the last Western forces have gone?

Ritula Shah is joined a panel of Afghanistan experts. Producers: Junaid Ahmed and Paul Schuster.

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Sat 7 Aug 2021 03:06GMT

Contributors

Ashley Jackson - Co-director of the Centre for the Study of Armed Groups at ODI; author of Negotiating Survival: Civilian-Insurgent Relations in Afghanistan.

Dawood Azami - An academic focusing on South and Central Asian countries and a senior journalist with ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service.

Col. Christopher Kolenda - Former senior policy adviser in Afghanistan to US Army General Stanley McChrystal; author of Zero-Sum Victory: What We're Getting Wrong About War.

Michael Semple - Professor at the Mitchell Institute for Global Peace Security and Justice at Queen's University Belfast; also a former deputy EU Special Representative for Afghanistan.

Also featuring ...

Gen. David Petraeus - Former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force and US Forces in Afghanistan

Picture

Afghan Taliban militants and villagers attend a gathering in Laghman Province. (Photo by NOORULLAH SHIRZADA / AFP via Getty Images)Β 

Broadcasts

  • Fri 6 Aug 2021 09:06GMT
  • Fri 6 Aug 2021 23:06GMT
  • Sat 7 Aug 2021 03:06GMT

The Real Story Podcast

Subscribe via your favourite podcast app...

Podcast