In this special episode of Talibanology, host Tamim Asey sits down with Dr. Sara Harmouch a leading terrorism expert and founder of H9 Defense and a Ph.D holder from the American University. She is a national security expert and counterterrorism researcher, she focuses on Islamist militant groups, irregular warfare, alliance dynamics, non-state actors’ behavior and their interactions with state actors. Raised in Lebanon and native in Arabic and French, she brings firsthand experience and fieldwork across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe—engaging directly with members of extremist groups. Harmouch has briefed OSD, NATO, the State Department, Army Futures Command, and the Office of Net Assessment, and presented at West Point, Modern War Institute, and the 9/11 Memorial.

Dr. Harmouch in this episode tries to unravel the dark and often overlooked dimensions of Taliban–Al-Qaeda relations. From their evolving partnership after the Doha Agreement to signs of Al-Qaeda’s rebuilding under Taliban protection Dr. Harmouch offers a rare and penetrating look at whether Afghanistan is once again becoming a global jihadist sanctuary. We also examine the risk of Al-Qaeda regaining external operational capability from Afghan soil and explore the long-standing ambitions of both groups to acquire weapons of mass destruction now potentially supercharged by emerging technologies such as LLMs and other amplifying technologies and in addition their quest to silently acquire long-range drones as well.

This is a gripping and in-depth discussion on the nexus of ideology, strategy and technology in modern jihadist threats.

Must listen.