On September 6, 2021, the first lecture of “Liangxiang Forum” of the Institute for International and Area Studies of Tsinghua University in the autumn semester of 2021 was held in conference room 205 of the central main building, with the theme of “The Afghanistan Situation in the Era of Post-withdrawal: Change and Unchange”. The lecture was given by Prof. Wang Xu, Associate Professor and Deputy Managing Director of Center for South Asian Studies of Peking University, and presided over by He Yan, a doctoral candidate of the IIAS. Researchers, doctoral students and teachers and students from other colleges and universities attended the lecture.
At the beginning of the lecture, Prof. Wang Xu introduced the basic characteristics and historical process of the political vicissitudes of Afghanistan in the past century to the teachers and students participating in the lecture with the basic knowledge of the country and historical changes. Subsequently, Prof. Wang combed and interpreted the key concepts of the Afghan problem, the origin of political characteristics and the situation of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which provided sufficient background knowledge reference for the lecture to cut into the main topic.
Under the background of basic knowledge and regional research, Prof. Wang discussed the three reasons for the drastic changes in the political situation in Afghanistan, the four challenges faced by the new Taliban government in Afghanistan, and the five impacts of the changes in the political situation in Afghanistan on the world and the region. First of all, Prof. Wang gave out opinions on the reasons for the change of the political situation in Afghanistan, and suggested that the change of the situation was the result of the “negative cooperation” game between the U.S. government, the Ghani government of Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban. Secondly, Prof. Wang gives an original analysis of the challenges that the Afghan Taliban may face in the future from the aspects of the internal organization of the Afghan Taliban, the domestic situation of Afghanistan and the international attitude towards the situation of Afghanistan. Finally, by analyzing the political and social problems faced by Afghanistan and the response policies to be adopted by other countries one by one, this paper further discusses the impact of the situation in Afghanistan on the world and the region. Through the analysis and discussion of the above three parts, Prof. Wang clearly explained to the audience the changes and unchanged core components of the political situation in Afghanistan in the post withdrawal era.
At last, Prof. Wang Xu enthusiastically shared his valuable experience and field research experience in Pakistan and Afghanistan, inspired participants’ interest in actively engaging in area studies, and received unanimous praise and warm applause from the audience.

Wang Xu, executive deputy director and associate professor of South Asia Research Center of Peking University. In 1997, he graduated from the Department of Oriental Studies of Peking University with a Bachelor of Arts; In 2000 and 2007, he obtained a master of Arts and a doctor of Arts from the school of foreign languages of Peking University. He has long been engaged in the study of Islam in South Asia, regional and national issues in South Asia, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has successively presided over and completed more than 10 national, provincial and ministerial topics, and published dozens of Chinese and English papers at home and abroad.

Text by: Wei Shiwen
Typesetting by: Cheng Yao
Reviewed by: Cheng Yao