Afghanistan

Playing the Great Game
The Tricycle Theatre's production of The Great Game - 12 plays on the history and contemporary realities of the struggle for control over Afghanistan - brings to the fore what will be one of the central political issues in the coming years. Co-director Indhu Rubasingham reflects on the project

Afghanistan: a brief history
Understanding Afghanistan today is only possible by looking at it in the context of the part played by the competing imperial powers in its past. Jane Shallice offers a guide

Beyond the Taliban: the roots of Pashtun resistance
Mohammad Asif looks at the real background to the resistance groups

Longing for the Taliban
Chris Sands reports un-embedded from Kandahar, Afghanistan, where chronic insecurity and anger at foreign troops is leading much of the local population to support a resurgent Taliban

A thousand-headed dragon is here
Five years after the Taliban were toppled, Afghanistan is again being torn apart by violence. And it's the government and foreign forces that are getting the blame. By Chris Sands in Kabul