The Taliban’s announcement earlier this month of an all-male “interim” Cabinet followed a trip to Kabul by the head of Pakistan’s intelligence service, sparking claims that Islamabad had asserted its control over the new Afghan regime. But according to sources within the Taliban, the reality is somewhat more complex.

Despite a conciliatory phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, the flare-up in trans-Atlantic tensions over the AUKUS spat shows little sign of abating. The Biden administration underestimated the severity of the diplomatic fallout the deal would cause, both with France and within the EU.