Islamist Responses to the August 2021 Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan: The Case of Malaysia

What is it about?

This study seeks to uncover how Malaysia’s Islamists responded to the August 2021 re-assumption of the reins of government in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Utilizing semi-structured interviews held with Malaysian stakeholders of the country’s Afghanistan-related policies, this article finds that, despite forebodings swirling around the policy-making community regarding a possible hike of violent extremism following the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s American-supported government, the impact of Taliban’s ascendancy on the growth of Islamist extremism in Malaysia has so far been negligible.

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Why is it important?

This study’s novelty lies in having derived input from Malaysian informants who have had first-hand experience in dealing with Taliban and other interested parties in Afghanistan.