Middle East

Bartosz Rydlinski (former Carnegie Endowment for International Peace associate) comments on the recent developments in Afghanistan for the third episode of Cross-border Talks. He has a number of observations: the USA's public opinion is supportive of the American withdrawal, the Taliban have undergone evolution, just as Afghan women have done, regional powers rely on them for security and stability. Rydlinski claims that the Iranian role for the future of Afghanistan will become more important, especially if it is constructive from international point of view. The Polish expert also studies the current crisis from the perspective of the Afghan people in this interview, which he gives to Malgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat and Vladimir Mitev.

The West's disturbance in the force in Afghanistan

In the second segment of the third episode of the Cross-border Talks Malgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat tries to find out a number of issues about Iran's attitude towards the Taliban, the foreign policy priorities of the new administration of the president Ebrahim Raisi and the future of the nuclear agreement. 
Vladimir Mitev - a Bulgarian-Romanian Iranologist, explains that Iran has certain duality within the state and society. E.g. it has two armies - a national one and one loyal to the Islamic character of the country - the Revolutionary Guards. And the attitudes towards the Taliban are different. One hand the Revolutionary Guards are engaging the Taliban. On the other hand, Iranians have experience of suffering from the Taliban and fear possible getting involved in "a trap" in Afghanistan set up for them.
The cabinet of Rouhani had a general pro-Western foreign policy line. But the fact that Raisi's foreign minister Amir Abdollahian looks to the East, doesn't mean that Iran makes a truly major shift. Its pro-Western people, the pro-European middle class remain present.
Towards the end of the interview the two interlocutors discuss the various social, economic, medical, humanitarian and water crisis in Iran. Their conclusion is that those crisis require international cooperation between Iran and the world. And that means that relations with and of Tehran should not be seen only as power relations. The people's interests must be in the center of international relations.

Iran's ambiguous attitude towards the Taliban, "the West" and "the East"

The third episode of Cross-border Talks offers a look to the Great Middle East after the ongoing US/NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. 
In the first segment we speak to Bartosz Rydlinksi who has been affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is knowledgeable on international relations between "West" and "East". We study what is the American rationale behind the pullout, is the EU going to pay once again the price for Western beligerence (apart from the people of the Middle East), what role might neighbouring countries such as Iran play in Afghanistan and other issues.
In the second segment the issue of Iran's position and role in Afghanistan is further studied through Malgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat's interview with Vladimir Mitev. He observes that the Iranian state and society are complex and see many issues in contradictory senses. The Revoutionary Guards has been engaging the Taliban for years, but another part of Iranians fear that a trap is set up for them to the east, that they might get involved in a civil war that will drain further their resources. The interview also deals with the new cabinet of Ebrahim Raisi, its foreign policy preferences and the recent protests in Iran.

The West, the Taliban and Iran amidst the US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Gabriel Danci is a Romanian expert on Afghanistan, who currently makes a Ph.D. research on Afghan geopolitics at the University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He provides custom-tailored geopolitical insights for senior executives and related advisors from the private and public sectors. He researches and reports on practices, military capabilities, and strategies of governments and other relevant non-state actors shaping the political landscape of West, Central and South Asia.
In this episode he discussed about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, about various geopolitical interests - regional and global, around the country, about the situation of Afghan refugees and other issues

Gabriel Danci: Afghani geopolitics continues to be interwoven with war on terror

Ewa Majewska, Polish feminist and member of the scientific committe of Marxist Feminist conference, which will take place between 16 and 18 November 2023 in Warsaw spoke to Cross-border Talks about her understanding of feminism, that differs from liberal feminism. She shared her expectation regarding women's rights in Poland after the October 2023 parliamentary elections, which hint a liberal-leaning government is possible. And then went on to discuss about being feminist in the Middle East - the Iranian "Women. Life. Freedom" protest movement, the concept of Islamic feminism and the contribution of the Rojawa social model to feminist thoery

Gabriel Danci: Afghani geopolitics continues to be interwoven with war on terror

Cross-Border Talks