"In this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, talks about who did it and why."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler writes: "As Afghanistan’s illicit drug trade flows globally, the international community needs to get serious about this threat not only as a matter of public health but also as counter-terrorism financing. Heroin and increasingly the more lucrative methamphetamine bleed through transport routes, making their way to Brussels, Berlin, and other European cities by way of Iran, Turkey and the Balkan states, via Central Asia as well as the Indian Ocean and East Africa. Meanwhile, the Taliban is funnelling these profits into a war chest it can put towards further violence and extremism."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler joined GLOBAL with JJ Green to discuss the September 5, 2022 suicide bombing outside the consular section of Russia’s embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing a top diplomat, a Russian security guard and four Afghans. Dr. Schindler discussed who could have been responsible and why.

CEP Advisory Board Member Nathan Sales quoted: "Taliban rule has already allowed terrorist organizations to blossom in Afghanistan, and only more will grow, according to Currie and Nathan Sales, a former ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism. They said these groups view the U.S. and its Western allies as top targets."

CEP Advisory Board Member Dr. August Hanning quoted: "'It was clear to all experts that [the withdrawal] meant the great danger of the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan,' Dr. August Hanning, former German state secretary of the Federal Interior Ministry and director of Federal Intelligence Services, explained. 'But the prevailing mood in Germany was that government, Parliament and public were tired about the mission and the poor results of the mission in Afghanistan. Therefore, this announcement was also associated with a feeling of relief.'"

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown statement: "THE sudden withdrawal of Western troops from Kabul has sparked a worrying resurgence of Islamic State in Afghanistan, as the Islamist organisation’s central command in Syria and Iraq smelled an opportunity."