Talibanology: Power, People and Policies

In this special episode of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey sits down with Dr. Sara Harmouch a leading terrorism expert and founder of H9 Defense and a Ph. D holder from the American University. She is a national security expert and counterterrorism researcher, she focuses on Islamist militant groups, irregular warfare, alliance dynamics, non-state actors’ behavior and their interactions with state a...

What keeps the Taliban’s grip on power so firm—and what might unravel it from within? In this gripping season finale of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey is joined by Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown, a leading authority on non-state armed actors, insurgent governance and illicit economies. As Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director of several cutting-edge initiatives including: - Director of th...

In this episode of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey is joined by Professor Dr. Amira Jadoon, Associate Professor at Clemson University and one of the foremost authorities on terrorism and insurgency dynamics in South and Central Asia. Drawing from her groundbreaking book The Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Strategic Alliances and Rivalries (2023), Dr. Jadoon guides us through the complex a...

In this powerful episode of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey is joined by Ambassador Annie Pforzheimer — former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan and South Asia, and former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Drawing on her three decades in U.S. diplomacy, Annie offers a candid and insightful critique of America’s engagement with the Taliban—from flawed assumptions...

In this episode - Tamim Asey is joined by the world-renowned Taliban expert and Afghanistan historian Professor Michael Semple for a deep dive into the lives, leadership and legacy of the Taliban’s three Emirs: Mullah Omar, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada. Together, they explore how the Taliban craft myths around their leaders, the role of secrecy and decentralised governanc...

In this episode of Talibanology, podcast host Tamim Asey sits down with Emeritus Professor William Maley of the Australian National University—renowned scholar and author of The Afghanistan Wars, Rescuing Afghanistan, and What is a Refugee? Drawing on decades of expertise, Professor Maley offers a sharp and sobering comparison between the Taliban’s first regime in the 1990s and their current rule....

In this episode of Talibanology, we are joined by leading insurgency expert Dr. Antonio Giustozzi, author of The Taliban at War, The Islamic State in Khorasan, and Empires of Mud, to dissect the secretive architecture of Taliban power—its military evolution, intelligence apparatus, and internal security logic. We explore five critical themes: 1.Militia in Uniform? The Myth and Reality of Taliban M...

In this episode of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey sits down with the brilliant Dr. Jennifer Murtazashvili, Director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh and author of Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan. A leading thinker on governance and post-conflict statecraft, Dr. Murtazashvili brings deep insight into the intersection of local authority, foreign eng...

In the debut episode of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey sits down with Dr. Hassan Abbas—renowned scholar of the Taliban and South Asian security—for a gripping conversation on the internal dynamics of the Taliban regime. We unpack rival power centres within the Emirate, governance challenges, economic sustainability, and the group’s regional strategy and ties to terrorist networks. We also explore p...

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