蜜芽传媒

With the fall of the Afghan government and the re-emergence of the Taliban, some western politicians have warned about the black hole of radicalism; the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said Afghanistan "mustn't become a breeding ground for terrorism again."

US troops went into Afghanistan in 2001 when the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden - accused of being the mastermind behind the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Centre which killed nearly 3,000 people.

So, now they're back in power, what will their stance be on groups like Islamic State and Al Qaeda?

Peter Neumann is Professor of Security Studies at the Department of War Studies and Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London. He says there's evidence that Al Qaeda already has a presence in parts of the country - but the question is whether the Taliban will give them support - or whether they may even be persuaded to fight against them:

"The hope is that the Taliban have learnt their lesson. That they will become more pragmatic and that they will never risk again a situation like 2001 where ultimately they lost their government of Afghanistan because of these foreign troops."

(Photo: Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Credit: Getty Images)

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