Securing a lasting peace in Afghanistan has become one of the most bedevilling diplomatic tasks of the 21st century. Last February witnessed some cautious optimism when the Afghan government and the Taliban signed an initial peace agreement. Very few expected this to be an immediate game-changer, however, and the terrible violence that has taken place in the country this year has unfortunately proven the sceptical majority right.
Amid this bleak reality, US Secretary of Defence Christopher Miller made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan last week. Mr Miller met Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani to discuss US support to Kabul as President Donald Trump proceeds with plans to withdraw thousands more American troops from Afghanistan before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Who controls Afghanistan region by region. The National
Mr Ghani is dealing this new security situation as peace talks are scheduled to resume with the Taliban on January 5. However, if recent history is anything to go by, negotiations are unlikely to deliver a peace dividend anytime soon. Since talks began in September, both sides have only managed to agree on procedural rules for future negotiations, as well as present each other with a list of topics they would like to discuss. Neither side is pleased with the other's proposed agenda and the Taliban have yet to renounce the violence that is ruining the lives of Afghans.
Journalists at a protest against the killing of Malala Maiwand, an Afghan journalist who was killed on 11 December. No group has claimed the attack. EPA
Activists gather in front of the UN office in Herat, Afghanistan, to demand peace and an end to war. EPA
Afghan Journalist Rahmatullah Nikzad who was shot dead by unknown assailants in Afghanistan's central Ghazni province on Monday. AP
Members of the Taliban's peace negotiation team taking part in talks with the Afghan government in Doha. Reuters
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talks to Afghanistan's State Minister for Peace Sayed Sadat Mansoor Naderi in Doha last November. The Afghan government and the Taliban are trying to hammer out a peace deal. AP
A Taliban delegation talking to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad last week. The two groups met to discuss an ongoing peace process. EPA
Taliban prisoners preparing to leave a government prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of an arrangement to persuade the insurgent group to start peace talks. EPA
Peace talks cannot become a means by which the Taliban traps the government and its international backers into inaction
While such meetings amble along in luxury hotels abroad, life in Afghanistan remains as dangerous as before. This month alone, it is estimated that at least 93 civilians and 159 members of pro-government forces have been killed. Many of these deaths are at the hands of the Taliban, who, despite securing major rewards for agreeing to talks, including the Afghan government releasing up to 5,000 of their prisoners, continue to kill innocent Afghans at will.
The reality of daily life in Afghanistan and the noble goals of the lumbering peace process increasingly seem worlds apart. While peace negotiators squabble for days over an order of agenda, an almost daily chain of lethal "sticky bomb" attacks terrify civilians.
No earnest effort to build peace should ever be denigrated, particularly in a country such as Afghanistan, which has enjoyed so little of it.But the simple fact of the peace talks' existence cannot become a means by which the Taliban traps the government and its international backers into inaction. With no reduction in their acts of violence, serious questions must be asked about the group's sincerity in the peace process.
In the Taliban's proposed agenda for the next round of talks, a ceasefire is the very last item they list. The group, therefore, is holding out until the very end before it even entertains the prospect of ending its campaign of violence and the shedding of Afghan blood. If the pace of talks matches that of previous ones, this will be an intolerable burden for Afghans. It also shows that ending bloodshed is simply not a moral priority for the Taliban.
Such an attitude to peace reminds us that at the centre of all terrorist ideologies lies the extreme narcissism of self-serving political obsessions – never the lives and prosperity of innocent people.
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024. It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine. Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages]. The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts. With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians. Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved. Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world. The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Red flags
Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
Travel distance: Limited
Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
Duration: Can linger for days
Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
