The Taliban claim to have defeated the self-declared Islamic State’s Afghan chapter, but exclusive information obtained by The Diplomat indicates that its success is not what it seems.

Debunking the myth of polytheism and revealing the true essence of Sufism In recent years, there has been a significant amount of discourse on social media a ...

Wahhabi Islam is more correctly called Salafism. Safa al Ahmad finds that, post the Arab uprisings, the Salafis are split between jihadists, democrats and apolitical pietists. Show more Wahhabism ...

Al-Monitor is an award-winning media outlet covering the Middle East, valued for its independence, diversity and analysis. It is read widely by US, international and Middle East decision makers at the ...

Al-Monitor is an award-winning media outlet covering the Middle East, valued for its independence, diversity and analysis. It is read widely by US, international and Middle East decision makers at the ...

Pundits like Thomas Friedman claimed that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was a reformer committed to liberalization. In reality, the Saudi kingdom remains unflinchingly authoritarian, ...