International Studies Journal (ISJ)

International Studies Journal (ISJ)

Middle East Protagonists and Power Shifts in Afghanistan

Document Type : Original Independent Original Article

Authors
Mehdi Zibaei 1
Wahidullah Qaderi 2
1 Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran
2 PhD Student, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Imam Khomeini International University (IKIU)
10.22034/isj.2025.496680.2269
Abstract
The political developments in Afghanistan over the past decades have clearly revealed the link between this country’s internal order and the key security agendas in the Middle East. U.S. and coalition forces attacks on Afghanistan to oust the Taliban and advance state-building via the Bonn Agreement have resulted in relative political stability in Afghanistan, which lasted until 2021. The 2021 Doha Agreement between the US and the Taliban on the one hand and the Taliban and new emerging Post-Arab Uprising Middle Eastern powers on the other hand paved the way for the Taliban’s return to power. So, A key question concerns the relationship between power relations within the Middle East regional order and Afghanistan’s internal developments. The hypothesis holds that the role of the Middle East’s major powers in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs is largely shaped by the regional balance of power and directed toward mutual containment. Afghanistan’s internal developments appear to be profoundly influenced by regional and transregional power relations. This study will examine the relationship between the internal developments in Afghanistan and the regional order in the Post-Arab Uprising Middle East. Employing an analytical–descriptive method and grounded in balance-of-power theory, the study examines the link between Afghanistan’s internal developments and the Middle East regional order.
Keywords
Afghanistan
security
regional order
Middle East
balance of power
Subjects
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