The episode considers the Taliban’s performance in managing Afghanistan’s regional relations.  It considers their declared strategy, which is economy led, and under which they have opened up for inward investment from the neighbours, in particular China.  But the undeclared strategy is shaped by their harbouring of militant groups opposed to each of the neighbouring countries.  The result is a proliferation of hedging approaches adopted by countries in the region, who deal with the Taliban as the de facto power in Afghanistan but are not necessarily banking on the Emirate being around for long.

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.