Taliban related content 

Osama bin Laden's death offers opportunity for ‘new era' in campaign against terror. The death of Osama bin Laden, especially when taken in combination with the ongoing...

Pino Arlacchi is not afraid to take risks and has some very grand plans. Even to his detractors, Pino Arlacchi is a man of extraordinary qualities. As a budding sociologist...

Europe has failed NATO's existential test in Afghanistan, Smiles on stage but sighs behind the scenes will be the story of the NATO summit at Lisbon on 20 November....

Apprehending Akhmed Zakayev may have helped the Chechens and has shown a lack of consistency on Poland's part. Depending on how you look at it, Poland's arrest of Akhmed...

Foreign ministers meet in Brussels for their informal summit. EU member states' foreign ministers are to discuss the Union's response to the recent floods in Pakistan and...

Pakistan included on informal summit agenda as Kristalina Georgieva calls for more aid money. In the aftermath of the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in August, EU...

The EU must improve its political response to crises and not just its ability to deliver aid. Is the European Union good at saving lives? This year, Haiti's earthquake,...

Funds to help flood victims The European Commission today (11 August) decided to provide €10 million in aid for victims of devastating floods in Pakistan. The aid comes...

Decision had been in the offing for months before the current monsoon floods. The European Commission has committed humanitarian assistance worth €30 million to...

India resembles a gigantic European Union. Some countries are naturally at ease with the concept and the reality of strategic power. Such was clearly the case of France...

Former Lithuanian foreign minister to be special representative. Vygaudas Ušackas was appointed as the European Union's next special representative for Afghanistan at a...

We would be doing Afghanistan a disservice if we did not take the appointment of the EU special envoy seriously. Given the complexity of the Afghan crisis and the outcome of...

Defence reviews seek to define new threats, while Afghanistan forces EU and NATO military rethink. This year could prove to be pivotal for the future of European defence....

Awkward moments in Lithuania. Vygaudas Ušackas was Lithuania's foreign minister until last month, when he resigned after being criticised by Dalia Grybauskaite, the...

Obama's envoy to NATO is an intellectual heavy-hitter, well-versed in diplomacy. The post of US ambassador to NATO has traditionally entailed – alongside its obvious...

The EU must get its act together if it wants to shape the global order alongside the US. At last week's United Nations and G20 summits, US President Barack Obama gave the...

The EU must act now to limit the spillover from Afghanistan's and Pakistan's instability. If not, it will pay later. After eight years of discord in the struggle against...

Why do EU states choose the UN or NATO over the EU's own security mechanism? Here is an invaluable book for those seeking to grasp this slippery topic. Ten years ago, the...

The EU should commit itself to a ‘civilian surge', but with Afghan rather than European civilians. When EU foreign ministers meet in Stockholm this week, they are likely...

International observers claim ballot-stuffing, while military situation is deteriorating. The Swedish government, as holder of the presidency of the EU's Council of...