Dear reader, As Afghanistan continues to make news with the recent take over of its administration by the Taliban, the presence of yet another radical Islamic organisation based in the country, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), has become a matter of concern. The ISKP envisions the creation of the historical territory known as Khorasan, which in their understanding consists of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, several Central Asian republics, large parts of India and parts of Russia. In its objective, the ISKP goes beyond the nationalistic visions of the Taliban and has much greater regional implications for South Asia and more specifically for India. Our story this week unravels why the territory of Khorasan is significant in Islamic political history, culture and theology. At its heyday under the Abbasids in the ninth and tenth centuries CE, Khorasan was a region of exciting and innovative cultural as well as intellectual productions. In recent years, not only have extremists usurped the term to create a sense of global fear, but have also shifted the region it encompassed to suit their agenda. As experts have noted, even at the peak of Islamic rule, India was never part of Khorasan. Panjshir Valley Our other story this week takes a close look at Panjshir Valley, the last of Afghanistan’s 34 districts to fall to the Taliban. Mira Patel in this piece digs into the history of Panjshir to understand how the region has stood up against several opponents in the past decades and why it fell to the Taliban this time. Read the stories: Why Islamic State in Afghanistan harks on the concept of Khorasan and what it means for India Why Panjshir Valley stood strong for decades and how it has fallen now Sincerely, Adrija Roychowdhury | 
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