Open research questions in Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

What the literature leaves open

• The Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in 2021 sparked widespread debate regarding the legitimacy of the government from an international law perspective.38 In international law, the legitimacy of a government is determined not only by a political group’s success in seizing power, but also by various other factors such as the ability to govern effectively, the origin of power, and acceptance by the international community.39 Therefore, an analysis of the Taliban government’s legitimacy must comprehensively consider these various dimensions. In traditional international law, one of the primary indicators of the existence of a government is its ability to exercise effective control over the territory and population of a state. Following their takeover in August 2021, the Taliban effectively gained control over nearly the entire territory of Afghanistan and took over various government institutions that were previously under the control of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.40 Furthermore, the Taliban also performs various governmental functions, such as managing state administration, maintaining domestic security, and interacting with various international organizations regarding humanitarian aid. These conditions indicate that, from the perspective of the doctrine of effective control, the Taliban can be categorized as a governing authority holding de facto power in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, in contemporary international law, the legitimacy of a government is no longer understood solely through the existence of effective control. A number of scholars emphasize the importance of considering the legitimacy of origin when assessing the legitimacy of a government. This dimension relates to how a government acquires power and whether that process is considered consistent with political principles widely accepted by the international community.41 In the context of Afghanistan, the Taliban seized power through a military process that culminated in the collapse of the Afghan Republic following the withdrawal of international forces. Regime change through military force is not a new 36 Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Taliban Restrict Women’s Rights (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2022). 37 Ker-Lindsay, “Engagement without Recognition.” 38 Federica Paddeu and Niko Pavlopoulos, “Between Legitimacy and Control: The Taliban’s Pursuit of Governmental Status,” Just Security (2021). 39 Jean d’Aspremont, “Legitimacy in International Law Revisited,” Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 49 (2018): pp. 3–25. 40 Giustozzi, “The Taliban at War,” pp. 735–757. 41 Allen Buchanan, “The Legitimacy of International Law,” Philosophy & Public Affairs 45, no. 2 (2017): pp. 83–116.

  The Legitimacy of the Taliban Government after the 2021 Takeover: An International Law Perspective · 2026 · DOI

• 182 ministries; and eliminate the recurring problem of divergent signals during the mediation meeting (Jan 2016), as well as when Soleimani departed from Pakistan post, and pre-Iran declaration of Neutrality. On the Pakistani side, finalize the co-operative rapid reaction force agreed upon in the Khan- Rouhani meeting in April 2019 by just outlining the standard operating procedures, communication lines and hot pursuit understanding that goes from announcement to realization. Share mutual intelligence by breaking the game of ‘chicken', between rival firms, who can only operate on the basis of suspicion – between Islamabad and Tehran on the case of Jaish al-Adl, for example; for the JIo: Engage in more transparent and accountable intelligence sharing with Tehran on the cross-border movement of Baloch insurgents over into Iran; Tehran in turn should do so with Islamabad for Jaish al-Adl. On Iranian state's side: discuss with Pakistan options regarding renminbi currency and in barter terms which will yield immediate results along lines of cost-effective trade growth, without exposing Pakistani entities to secondary sanctions etc. particularly in energy supplies etc. with Iranian border regions. It is not possible to forget another player that is equally responsible, the Economic Cooperation Organization, and introducing tangible and timely indicators for the revival of ECO as the primary ‘trilateral’ forum for connectivity of Iran – Pakistan – Turkey, to compensate for the gap of chronic implementation. In regards to multilateral institutions, UNOCD (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) should be engaged to promote capacity building for the bilateral Iran-Pakistan counternarcotics operations along the border, as they are already well up-to-date with the bilateral operations. For academic and policy community: Pakistani universities need to develop an exclusive Iran studies programmed and Iranian universities the Pakistan studies programmed, and vice versa to cure the de-structuralist of the discourse about Pakistan from the western/Indian context and the case of Iran in the Pakistani context. For the academic and policy community: It is vital that the Saudi-Iran rivalry, along with the sectarian governance and connectivity contest, is dealt with and discussed in the track 2 processes at various levels and that the discussions are made public, which would chill the public debates.

  Pakistan–Iran relations (2016–2020): Strategic convergence, structural constraint and the burden of external geometry · 2026 · DOI

• According to Becker and Murphy (1988), individuals are often drawn to illicit drug economies when legitimate opportunities are scarce, as these activities offer quick financial returns in dire circumstances.

  Narcotics and Long-Term Strategies for Combating in Panjshir A Case study · 2026 · DOI

• The Pak-Afghan border region is more of a cultural space than merely a border line. In this space, compliance with state policies is difficult to achieve straightforwardly; rather, it requires the tribal community's willful acceptance. Considering ongoing military action against militants as an external factor, this study recommends the following steps to achieve sustained compliance with state policies. 1. As the Jirga is recognized and accepted as an informal authority in tribal traditions, if state policies are formulated in such a fashion that they can be implemented in consultation with the concerned Jirga, it will achieve better compliance. 2. A joint framework with tribal peacekeeping committees will help maintain social discipline and control armed clashes. 3. In order to facilitate cross-border movements for kinship ties, special passes can be issued after verification. 4. As the local population largely depends upon deep-rooted cross-border trade, restrictions on such activities can cause economic strangulation of common people. Therefore, flexible trade permits should be issued to facilitate cross-border commercial activities. DOI: 10.48165/sajssh.2026.7201 11 Wadood & Alvi, 2026 SAJSSH, Vol 7, Issue 2 5. In order to reduce the dependency on cross-border trade, a local market may be established, and incentives can be given to the locals for the diversion of commercial activities within their own territory. 6. Pashto language should be used for policy awareness in order to display respecting gesture and gain voluntary acceptance.

  How Informal Norms Impact Compliance of State Policies in the Pak-Afghan Border Region · 2026 · DOI

• Current dynamics of the Pak-Afghan border region, including massive movements of refugees, long holding of commercial vehicles, cross-border movements of militants, and DOI: 10.48165/sajssh.2026.7201 6 Wadood & Alvi, 2026 SAJSSH, Vol 7, Issue 2 military operations, do not allow the collection of primary data in the shape of first-hand interviews of the border population. Moreover, rapid changes in state policy are making it difficult to maintain a consistent historical pattern of compliance. RESEARCH DESIGN This research is based on a single-region case study of the Pak-Afghan border, primarily focusing on the tribal territories of Pashtun communities, because this region features unique political and cultural dynamics that cannot be generalized for comparison with other regions. Moreover, the relationship between the region's informal norms follows a particular historical pattern of compliance with state policies, which is predominantly cultural rather than institutional. It provides insight into analyzing traditional norms rather than relying on administrative tools for policy compliance. ANALYSIS The border region falling between Pakistan and Afghanistan, known as the “Durand Line,” is culturally one of the most complex regions because it divides the Pashtun communities, which share common norms, traditions, language, cultural identity, agricultural fields, grazing grounds, kinship, as well as trade ties and memories of pre-border free movements. Analysis of policy compliance in this context requires understanding how informal norms, identities, and local informal authoritative structures respond to the formal institutional authorities. The impact of informal norms on state policy compliance in this region is examined in the following dimensions.

  How Informal Norms Impact Compliance of State Policies in the Pak-Afghan Border Region · 2026 · DOI

• https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592704040472 on Newman, D. (2006). Borders and bordering: Towards an interdisciplinary dialogue. European Journal of Social Theory, 9(2) (171-186). North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press. Ostrom, E. (2000). Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3), 137–158. Paasi, A. (2013). Border and Border Crossings. In N.C. Johnson, R.H. Schein, & J. Winder (Eds), The Willey-Blackwell companion to cultural geography (pp 478 – 493).

  How Informal Norms Impact Compliance of State Policies in the Pak-Afghan Border Region · 2026 · DOI

• 1) Youth are the backbone of a society; the youth have a fundamental role to ensure peace and tranquility in a country. They should be in the political arena. culture; have an essential economic role 3) 2) young men and women to access their basic human rights, from the right to access to education; the right to freedom; The right to work should make serious efforts to fight through national and regional gatherings and meetings until the Taliban gives in to their legitimate will. International organizations and institutions that support human rights and support democracy should take a practical and valuable step to restore the rights of the youth of Afghanistan and put pressure on the Taliban and extremist groups so that more young people do not become victims. 4) Young writers and scholars should reflect the problems and sufferings of Afghan youth to the world through national and international conferences in order to access their rights.

  The Impact of Taliban Rule on Youth Rights in Afghanistan: An Analysis of Repression · 2026 · DOI

• Several studies highlighted the various reasons for the intangible achievements between 2001 and 2021 in Afghanistan; however, literature covering the anomalies of the security-development nexus remains scarce.

  Development Under the Shadow of Guns: An Empirical Analysis of Security-Development Nexus in Afghanistan. · 2025 · DOI

• The following suggestions are determined by the analysis of this research in order to reduce or eliminate instances of harassment in public areas. 6.1 Legislative Reforms According to this research, Section 509 of the P.P.C. should be amended to clearly define what constitutes harassment on the street or in public places. Additionally, it is highly advised that Sections 354 and 509 be amended to better define “modesty” in accordance with Indian law. DOI: 10.52279/jlss.06.04.395404 Page | 401 Journal of Law & Social Studies 2024 In order to make clearer what women's modesty included, an amendment was adopted in 2013. It is advised that a specific law on harassment in public spaces be created in order to improve things in the future. A unique regulation known as "Harassment of Bicyclists" exists in Columbia and covers wheelchair users, pedestrians, and cyclists. The following important components of that statute are required: • Scope and beneficiaries, • Definitions of terminology such as "harassment," "harassment in public places," • The rights and options available to the victim of harassment in public. • National Committees, similar to those in India, are tasked with routinely monitoring and reviewing current policies and practices in order to suggest changes that will better assist victims. 6.2 Implementation of Current Laws The primary obstacle to implementation is the non-reporting of cases. It is therefore advised to simplify the complaint submission process. Similar to Italy, setting up a national hotline for victims to get assistance, file reports, etc., is advised. The languages spoken on that hotline are English, Urdu, the national language, and several province languages. Similar to how complaints are filed online in India, a website is also required. 6.3 Law Enforcement Organizations It is recommended that the government assist law enforcement, particularly the police and local authorities, in understanding the effects of street harassment on victims and taking into account their reports. It is imperative that police stations enhance their representation of female personnel. Because of this, ladies visited police stations without hesitation. The government must also give victims of crime assistance and a safe environment in public areas including marketplaces, walkways, parks, and transportation. 6.4 Awareness Last but not least, it is recommended to raise public awareness through the media regarding harassment of women and public spaces. Curriculum items must be added, and university lectures or campaigns should be coordinated to encourage women to report harassment they may experience when moving freely in public areas.

  Harassment in Public Places: Legal Framework and Societal Perspectives in Pakistan · 2024 · DOI

• In doing so, the paper outlines the underreported vulnerabilities related to the children of NMDs and further identifies the related institutional dynamics of CIMIC in the immediate post - conflict environment .

  Post-conflict Rehabilitation: Understanding the Role of Civil-Military Cooperation in Supporting Child Protection Units (CPUs) in Newly Merged Districts (NMDs), Pakistan · 2023 · DOI

• While this article’s primary aim is to analyze the gendered experiences of LECs as under-researched but essential actors in the military missions in Afghanistan, by “returning the gaze” I also cast new light on the masculinities of Western soldiers, exposing their dependencies on locally recruited civilians, especially interpreters, thereby challenging masculinized accounts of Western soldiers’ autonomy and neo-imperial power/knowledge.

  Segregated brotherhood: the military masculinities of Afghan interpreters and other locally employed civilians · 2022 · DOI

• As Pakistan marks 75 years of its independent existence, debates and discourses about its creation continue, and Hayat's contributions to that discourse need to be examined and understood outside his own…

  The Hayat Hypothesis: Imperial Crisis, Muslim Modernism, Jinnah’s Charisma, and the Birth of Pakistan · 2022 · DOI

• While India is opposed to the presence of the UN military observers, little is known about the perceptions of the group’s role and its potential capacity to play a constructive role in keeping peace along the border.

  The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan: analysis of perceptions in India and Pakistan · 2021 · DOI

• In examining previously published studies on CPEC, this essay highlights gaps in research, especially from anthropological and sociological perspectives, with the goal of encouraging further studies from the vantage point of the local communities regarding development projects in Pakistan.

  Problems and Benefits of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for Local People in Pakistan: A Critical Review · 2021 · DOI

• This introduction to the special section of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, titled ‘Religious Minorities in Pakistan’, reviews the existing scholarship on this topic, points out gaps in the research, and discusses problematic notions and assumptions in both popular and academic discourses on minorities.

  Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Identities, Citizenship and Social Belonging · 2019 · DOI

• Abstract Despite theoretical justifications and empirical evidence that state-owned enterprises have played an important role in late development, as well as over three decades of evidence that privatization programmes since the 1980s have had mixed results at best, international financial institutions continue prescribing privatization as a panacea for developing countries.

  Privatization in the Land of Believers: The political economy of privatization in Pakistan · 2017 · DOI

• Because the voices of Pakistani government teachers are overlooked in such top-down language policies, this paper implies that the their experiences, attitudes, and perspectives about the present and future role of English in public language-in-education policies need to be explored to better understand the potential future implications for Pakistani teachers and their education.

  English in Pakistani public education · 2017 · DOI

• <sec><st>ABSTRACT<cross-ref type="fn" refid="ijv032-FN1">1</cross-ref></st> The question of victims and victimhood is a rarely addressed dilemma in transitional justice (TJ) discourse and practice.

  Victims and Victimhood: Individuals of Inaction or Active Agents of Change? Reflections on Fieldwork in Afghanistan · 2015 · DOI

• How can one use folk and popular evidence for non-western and non-elite rural social history in periods that are sparsely documented by other forms of evidence? That is, what if oral literature is the majority of what there is? While oral literatures contain a great deal of information for historians, this claim is not necessarily premised on a transparent reading of explicit information in specific works.

  Reading the Power of Printed Orality in Afghanistan: Popular Pashto Literature as Historical Evidence and Public Intervention · 2011 · DOI

• It remains to be explained how Swat Taliban forces could have been near defeat in December 2007 yet manage to come back to defeat the Army little more than one year later.

  The Unravelling of Pakistan · 2009 · DOI

• Until the twentieth century, “all education in Afghanistan was traditional Islamic education, firmly rooted in the Qur’an and mostly limited to the study of religious science, law, and the hadith” (Sahraie and Sahraie 1974, 2).

  Islamic Education in Afghanistan: Revisiting the United States’ Role · 2008 · DOI

• By August 1992, according to the United Nations, food supplies in Kabul were scarce, shops were closed and over 500,000 people had fled the city in all directions.

  Post-Cold War State Disintegration: The Failure of International Conflict Resolution in Afghanistan · 1993

• While international organizations, human rights mechanisms, and Afghan women themselves have developed adaptive responses through informal education, entrepreneurship, and advocacy, these efforts remain insufficient without institutional reform.

  Afghan Women: A Life Without Rights – The Struggle for Freedom, Education, and Equality Under Taliban Rule · 2026 · DOI

• This article opens grounds for further research on the scope of mainstream polarisation potentially impacting the loyalties of Pakistan’s nuclear guardians in uniform.

  Military Polarisation and Testing Allegiance: Pakistan’s Nuclear Guardians in Times of Imran Khan · 2026 · DOI

• The intricate interplay between formal and informal social protection within an insecurity welfare regime, and the resulting harm and suffering caused by conflicts, remain inadequately explored due to methodological, logistical, and ethical challenges.

  Suffering and harm in insecurity welfare regimes: Conflict and the nexus of formal and informal welfare in Pakistan · 2024 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

• Militias, Ideology, and the State · Journal of Conflict Resolution · 2015 · 112 citations
• Pakistan's Jihad Culture · Foreign Affairs · 2000 · 82 citations
• ‘English is like a credit card’: the workings of neoliberal governmentality in English learning in Pakistan · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · 2021 · 48 citations
• Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Identities, Citizenship and Social Belonging · South Asia Journal of South Asian Studies · 2019 · 42 citations
• English in Pakistani public education · Language Problems & Language Planning · 2017 · 34 citations
• Mobile phone data reveal the effects of violence on internal displacement in Afghanistan · Nature Human Behaviour · 2022 · 32 citations
• Feminist-Nation Building in Afghanistan: An Examination of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) · Feminist Review · 2008 · 31 citations
• Women Left Behind: Migration, Agency, and the Pakistani Woman · Gender & Society · 2020 · 25 citations
• Problems and Benefits of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for Local People in Pakistan: A Critical Review · Asian perspective · 2021 · 24 citations
• Democratic practices and youth in political participation: a doctoral study · International Journal of Adolescence and Youth · 2020 · 24 citations

Most recent work

• The TTP challenge in Pakistan: role of legitimacy and its impact on securitisation process and counterinsurgency efforts · The Round Table · 2026
• Rise of Non-State Actors: A Case of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) · Global Political Review · 2026
• THE ENIGMA OF PAK-AFGHAN RELATIONS: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• Singing as a special form of ius resistendi – Afghan women’s protest against the banning of their voices · Scientia et Securitas · 2026
• Jirgas and the Ways Political Decisions Were Shaped in the Modern History of Afghanistan (1709–1922) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• The Interplay between India and Afghanistan: Role of Non-State Actors in fostering separatist tendencies in the restive Province of Baluchistan · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• Military Polarisation and Testing Allegiance: Pakistan’s Nuclear Guardians in Times of Imran Khan · Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs · 2026
• The Impact of Taliban Rule on Youth Rights in Afghanistan: An Analysis of Repression · Journal of Social Science and Humanities · 2026
• STUDENT UNIONS IN PAKISTAN: HISTORICAL BAN, BENEFITS, CHALLENGES, AND THEIR ROLE IN DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION · International Journal of Advanced Research · 2026
• The Indus Thesis: Iqbal's Persian Synthesis and the Ba'alist Capture of Pakistan's Foundational Ideology · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026

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