We are constantly being reminded that this is a world in crisis and a global disorder looms. Challenges from great-power contestation to the collapse of the multilateral order are shaping the choices nations are making. Wars are raging not only in the Middle East where they never really ended but also in Europe which had assumed that it had outlived power politics. Even as history is back with a vengeance, non-traditional security threats are escalating, with climate change and migration causing not only material damage but also forcing societies to become inward-oriented. Technological advancements are sharpening the social and economic fault lines that at one point they were supposed to blur. In the midst of all the turmoil, a part of the world that had become central to the global discourse in the aftermath of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, has been conveniently forgotten. Afghanistan no longer commands global attention as it used to in the past and after the departure of American troops in August 2021, the plight of ordinary Afghans is seemingly of no consequence to the international community. Taliban 2.0 was supposed to be a different beast compared to Taliban 1.0 but the Taliban 2.0 narrative crashed at the altar of the ambitions of the old Taliban. It should not have been a surprise to anyone but the West and, in particular, the US has now got in the habit of getting surprised. The world is pretending hard that Afghanistan is not an issue but it continues to bounce back to the headlines.
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