Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

MENASource Mar 19, 2025

Inside Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s diplomatic offensive with Syria’s Christians and Ismailis

By Gregory Waters

HTS’s diplomatic offensive demonstrates the leadership’s political approach, which evolved over years of engaging with the Christian and Druze communities in Idlib.
Democratic Transitions Freedom and Prosperity
Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

UkraineAlert Mar 6, 2025

US peace initiative can help bring Ukraine’s abducted children home

By Kristina Hook, Iuliia Hoban

Securing the return of the thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia since 2022 must play a part in the peace efforts recently initiated by US President Donald Trump, write Kristina Hook and Iuliia Hoban.
Civil Society Conflict
Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

New Atlanticist Feb 28, 2025

Egyptian senator: The mass displacement of Gazans will only fuel Hamas’s extremist ideology

By Mohamed Farid

Displacing Palestinians from Gaza would perpetuate cycles of violence, deepen regional instability, and undermine Israel’s security.
Conflict Human Rights

Content

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 5, 2021

Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

By Tamim Asey

With negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban under way, many in the West and Afghanistan are banking on the fact that the Taliban movement has changed and that, having failed to defeat them militarily, it is time to embrace them. Although the latter is indeed true - that we have failed to defeat the Taliban militarily - the former deserves more scrutiny.

Afghanistan Human Rights

Issue Brief

Dec 23, 2020

Countering China’s challenge to the free world: A report for the Free World Commission

By Jeffrey Cimmino, Ash Jain, and Matthew Kroenig

The increasing assertiveness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses a significant challenge to the interests and values of likeminded allies and partners and a rules-based internationa system.

China Human Rights

GeoTech Cues

Dec 22, 2020

The future of food: Imagining our food system in the decades to come

By Marcus Ranney, Sahil Shah

Our global food system is complex, with trade-offs existing between efficiency, equity, and human and environmental health. Managing a transition, even without cultural factors and vested interests is highly challenging.

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

MENASource

Dec 21, 2020

Global litigation strategies to close the accountability gap on human rights violators in Iran

By Lucy Grathwohl

Gissou Nia and a panel of litigators—Haydee Dijkstal, Amanda Ghahremani, Scott Gilmore—discussed the tools through which the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) can be held accountable in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Human Rights Middle East

BelarusAlert

Dec 21, 2020

Terror tactics fail to stop the rise of a democratic Belarus

By Hanna Liubakova

By seeking to subjugate his own population, dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka is unwittingly pushing the Belarusian people away from the Soviet past and towards a democratic European future.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

GeoTech Cues

Dec 17, 2020

Property rights, data, and prosperity in Africa

By Thomas Koch

One of the biggest obstacles to wealth creation and greater economic prosperity in Africa has to do with land ownership. Overcoming this obstacle will require better data collection, aggregation, and transparency.

Digital Policy Economy & Business

Issue Brief

Dec 17, 2020

Countering China’s crackdown on Hong Kong

By Anna Downs and Ash Jain

The implementation of the national security law has stifled the democratic movement in Hong Kong. This action sparked a series of democratic protests that China quickly attempted to dismantle—alarming observers worldwide. Can democracies mitigate the impact of the new national security laws on Hong Kong? Should Chine face penalties from the international community? Or will aligned democracies fail to defend other vulnerable democratic nations against Chinese malign influence?

China Civil Society

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Dec 14, 2020

The issue Ukraine’s first lady should champion vocally

By Laryssa Horodysky and Melinda Haring

A recent report by Amnesty International has highlighted the growing domestic violence crisis in war-torn eastern Ukraine. Coronavirus lockdown conditions are expected to add to the problem.

Coronavirus Human Rights

In the News

Dec 11, 2020

Friedlander tells Vox of ties between the Magnitsky Act and the Biden administration

By Julia Friedlander

Read the full article here.

Europe & Eurasia Human Rights

Past events

Dec 10, 2020

Free World Commission convenes lawmakers from leading democracies to discuss China challenge

By Atlantic Council

On December 9, 2020, the Free World Commission, comprised of lawmakers from leading democracies, held a virtual hearing on China and called for democracies to work together to address the challenges to the rules-based order posed by Beijing. The hearing was co-chaired by MP Tom Tugendhat from the United Kingdom and Rep. Tom Malinowski from […]

China Human Rights
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Experts

Staff

Kate Springs

Program Assistant, Strategic Litigation Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Human Rights International Norms

Fellow

Jonathan Corrado

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Indo-Pacific Korea

Fellow

Alex Wagner

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Human Rights National Security

Fellow

Marie Forestier 

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic French

Fellow

Ibrahim Al-Assil

Lead of the Syria Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Conflict

Millennium fellow

Nidal Azhary

Executive Director, L’Union Féministe Libre

Millennium Leadership Program

Human Rights Morocco
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Events

Online Event Wed, September 17, 2025 • 9:00 am ET

How the Russian Orthodox Church supports the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine
Conflict Europe & Eurasia Freedom and Prosperity Human Rights