Islamist movement that seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after spending 20 years fighting American and allied forces. As diplomats, they needed just four years to break out of international isolation. Russia officially recognised them in July 2025—the first country to do so—and the Taliban flag was raised at the Embassy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in Moscow. At least 15 mostly regional countries have ambassadors in Kabul. On August 20th 2025 the Taliban hosted a trilateral meeting with China and Pakistan.
The Taliban were supposed to remain in the diplomatic doghouse until they abandoned their treatment of women and broadened their all-male Pashtun cabinet. Neither has happened. Girls are banned from secondary school, women from working for NGOs and going to parks. Vice-and-virtue police patrol Kabul with increasing zeal.
The Taliban have cut corruption, halted poppy cultivation, ended 40 years of war and helped hammer the local ISKP franchise. There is no credible opposition, either inside Afghanistan or in exile. They feel so secure that they are slashing their bloated security apparatus to save money.
The Taliban harbour the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani version of the Taliban, along the border. Pakistan repeatedly demands the Taliban attack TTP sanctuaries; the Taliban refuse. In October 2025 Pakistan struck Kabul itself, targeting the TTP's leader Noor Wali Mehsud, whose presence in the Afghan capital hints at deepening ties between the TTP and the ruling Taliban. Pakistan also accuses the Haqqani network—a Taliban faction with longstanding ties to Pakistan's ISI spy agency—of double-dealing by sheltering TTP fighters in its eastern Afghan strongholds.
On March 16th 2026 Pakistan struck the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, killing at least 143 people—the deadliest single strike in the conflict. The Taliban initially claimed 400 dead. The civilian toll may unite militant factions that had been divided over how to handle tensions with Pakistan, and could provoke a more spectacular retaliatory attack.
"You have the clocks, we have the time," they told the occupying foreign powers. Now they have both.
Western states engage with the Taliban without conceding formal recognition. Until recently, Taliban officials met weekly with American diplomats in Qatar on human rights, drugs and counter-terrorism. The meetings ended when Mary Bischoping, an official hostile to engagement while the Taliban held American hostages, took charge; her reassignment was quietly celebrated by State Department pragmatists.
America has lifted $10m bounties on three top Taliban leaders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister, who orchestrated suicide-bombings against Western forces. Haqqani remains on the terrorist list, but in 2022 sanctions were diluted to the point that businesses are free to deal with his ministry. In January 2025 the Biden administration traded prisoners with the Taliban.
If some people didn't tell you, you'd never know they'd been away on vacation.