This month – October – I have started a position as a correspondent at TRT World, based in Istanbul. For years I worked as a freelancer (my output on this site reflects that work), but it’s great to have this exciting new opportunity.

It was a pleasure to be interviewed on the Lawfare podcast about my recent piece for the Atlantic Council on Afghanistan’s drug trade under the Taliban.

My piece for the South China Morning Post argues that Beijing’s recent decision to stop counter-narcotics cooperation with Washington after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan won’t make much difference to the US opioid epidemic.

In my latest piece for Middle East Eye, I argue that Iran’s relationship with the Taliban has so far been difficult in the year since the takeover.

In this piece for the Atlantic Council I look at the situation in Afghanistan and the wider region to show that the Afghan drug trade has so far boomed under Taliban rule despite a pledge by the new regime to ban narcotics.

In an essay for the Lowy Institute, I argue that China might not be responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, but its response so far has been clumsy and self-destructive, allowing India to regain influence.

My new piece argues that it is highly likely Pakistan was involved in the US operation that led to the death of Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri in Kabul this month.

I have a new essay looking at the recent rapprochement between India and the Afghan Taliban, available here: https://pakistanpolitico.com/indiatta/.

My latest essay for The National Interest argues that the Russian invasion will likely boost drug production and trafficking in Ukraine and could affect the global narcotics trade.

I was delighted to participate in a one-day conference in Islamabad on Afghanistan, hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), full video available here. My speech on narcotics begins at 1:55:40. (I’m a bit late posting this event, as I’ve been on the road).