ABSTRACT
Afghanistan has experienced multiple wars across the last four decades, including the 1979-89 Soviet Afghan War and 1992-96 Afghan Civil War, during which the Taliban consolidated its power. In exchange, the Taliban agreed to participate in intra-Afghan negotiations, work towards a ceasefire and prevent any group from using Afghanistan to threaten the US or its allies; but the negotiations produced no results. The last US soldier left Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, after a two-week evacuation effort. Furthermore, the conflict continues to feature international aspects due to cross-border attacks between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the threat of terrorist groups using Afghanistan as a staging ground. However, ISKP remained a major threat to the Taliban and continued to carry out attacks on Taliban members and terrorise civilians in Afghanistan, particularly the Hazara people, as it had done during the previous government.
