Sovereignty without consent: Afghanistan’s Taliban and the limits of control

Five years after storming back to power, Afghanistan’s Taliban government wants the world to see a settled fact: a state that has outlasted predictions of collapse, kept its currency stronger than most of the region’s, and sat across the table, however unhappily, from neighbors who once swore they’d never deal with it. But sovereignty isn’t just the absence of civil war. It’s the ability to govern your own population, run an economy, and command the loyalty of your own clergy and security forces. Judged by that standard, the anniversary looks a lot less settled than Kabul would like anyone to believe. A Health System Collapsing by Decree The starkest failure here isn’t military — it’s medical. In December 2024, the […]