Publications

Opinions

Analysis and commentary from Kabul Institute researchers, fellows, and contributors. Afghan perspectives on Afghanistan — written for the world.

Kabul Institute Opinions

Opinion pieces published by Kabul Institute researchers and contributors. These pieces represent the views of their authors and reflect Kabul Insttitute's commitment to rigorous, Afghan-led analysis of the issues that matter most.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026
Naweed Kawusi
Nine Cents on the Dollar: What UN Agencies Won't Say About Afghanistan's Aid

Only nine percent of every dollar entering Afghanistan's humanitarian response can be traced past its first recipient. UN agencies cannot keep treating that as an acceptable cost of doing business…

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SEPTEMBER 3, 2026
Ahmad Maqsood
Entrusting Pakistan: A Gamble Washington Keeps Losing and Repeating

Pakistan turned access into leverage in Afghanistan for four decades. Washington may be walking into the same trap with Iran…

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2026
Naweed Kawusi
What's Next for Afghanistan?

Five years of asking how Afghanistan fell has produced very little serious thinking about what comes next. Six unglamorous things that need to be built now, not summoned later…

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JULY 28, 2026
Tamana Ghafoori
The Water Crisis Can't Be Delayed Until Tomorrow; Afghanistan Is Thirsty

Kabul's groundwater will be gone by 2030, and the crisis has yet to become a regional headline…

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JUNE 1, 2026
Naweed Kawusi
How States Control Ethnic Consolidation: The Pashtun Model

For forty years, Pakistan has faced a strategic problem that cannot be solved through military force alone: Pashtun identity…

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MAY 29, 2026
Dr. Zahir Mirza
America Named the Threat and Ignored the Country

The 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy names ISIS-K and al-Qaeda as top-tier threats, then leaves out the country and the neighbor that shelter them…

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Afghan Analysis, Afghan Voice

The Kabul Institute Opinions series provides a platform for substantive Afghan-led analysis on governance, security, reconstruction, and identity. Contributors include KI researchers, fellows, and invited experts whose work aligns with KI's mission of independent, evidence-based engagement on Afghanistan's future. Opinion pieces are distinct from institutional statements and represent the views of their named authors.