Reflecting on the Taliban's First Year Back in Power in Afghanistan, Part 2: The Challenges Ahead

While the Taliban have effectively established themselves as the de-facto government in Afghanistan, they will face considerable challenges to their continued rule, making effective diplomatic partnerships for economic advancement and preventing security threats, both domestically and to external actors, essential. Notably, most challenges are closely related to the accomplishments discussed in the first part of this series -- highlighting that what may have been relative successes in the Taliban's first year in power also present longer-term liabilities....