About
My name is Tim Foxley and thanks for checking out the blog.
I am British (a Londoner) by origin. I run my own company specialising in independent political/military analysis and research.
I welcome any chances to discussing opportunities for full or part time research and analytical collaboration, conferences or lectures, so please feel free to drop me a line via this blog or to my email address: timfoxley@aol.com.
I worked for the British government as a defence analyst from 1992, finally cutting my ties in March 2014. I have been studying Afghanistan, the region and associated conflict themes, since 2001. Roughly half of this time has been at the UK Ministry of Defence as a senior analyst, where I received the MBE in 2005 for my Afghan work. The other half has been at the internationally acclaimed thinktank, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
I have undertaken several visits and field trips to Afghanistan since 2002, as well as two operational tours for the UK Ministry of Defence as a political/military analyst in Kabul (2006 and 2011). In 2014, I completed a 6 month slot with the UK Foreign Office as an Afghanistan/insurgency research analyst. In 2013 I completed a Master’s Degree, with distinction, in Peace and Conflict Studies, at Malmö University. My thesis looked at the directions in which the Afghan conflict could go after 2014. At SIPRI and afterwards I have produced several papers analysing the Taliban’s use of propaganda, information and the media. The Swedish Ministry of Defence has commissioned me to write several papers.
Although still focused on Afghanistan, I have also studied Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Russia-related security themes, including two operational tours in Bosnia during the 1990s. For several years I was a ground forces Order of Battle/capabilities specialist. I now also look at wider peace and conflict issues including:
conventional armed forces, hybrid warfare, red team thinking, conflict resolution, insurgencies, media, propaganda and information operations, development during conflict, asymmetric warfare, intelligence analysis, military history, terrorism, special forces, war crimes, refugees, insurgents, strategy and tactics, decision-making, militias and political control of the military…
To flesh out this rather dry biog, you should be aware that I am a keen rock and roll guitarist and a (much less keen) marathon runner. With the benefit of hindsight I would have spent more time learning to play the guitar…
afghanhindsight 
Thanks for the blog and articles.
Ron – great to have you aboard! Stay tuned and keep me in check… 🙂
Timmo, what an excellent blog – it looks good and I hope it will be the gateway to great things. I look forward to buying the book in due course…
I’m a bit out of date to offer any worthwhile comments, but hopefully some of our old oppos still on the Afghan beat will contribute.
Look forward to catching up when you’re over here next.
Jonno, thanks – same comment as I gave to Ron – stay tuned and keep me in check! See you in London shortly…
Tim, excellent stuff here.
Andy, thanks! Hopefully we can catch up in London…
Cheers
Great blogg Tim, keep up the good work! WIll follow your posts!
Thought I’d alert you to to 2 IEA statements that seem to show the Taliban are coming to grips with some semblance of international law and diplomacy. The Statement Of Islamic Emirate Regarding Execution Of Mujahideen By The Kabul Administration argues that execution of taliban prisoners is a war crime because the prisoners according to them are ‘prisoners of war’ and not criminal prisoners (and execution of prisoners of war is a horrendous offence!) and calls upon those in the regime (lawmakers courts and circles) to facilitate change and even appeals to the United nations to not stand by! The shoe is on the other foot!
The other was a statement of solidarity with people of Gaza; Islamic Emirate’s Statement Regarding Israeli Aggression Against Gaza. In it is typical rhetoric that Israel is an American Garrison and killng innocents, but the course of action the IEA advocate is interesting, it advocates ” Muslim leaders and human right organizations and the peace-loving people in the world to regain a strong position to work out ways so as to put an end to the Israeli invasion….” and concludes by urging the “United Nations to act in accordance with the international peace treaty and recognize the Palestinians political rights as well as Palestine a free state with Baitul Muqaddas ( Jersusalem) its capital”.
It seems the Taliban might be getting more educated members in their ranks and are really trying to pass of as some sort of national government in waiting. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this, and as to whether its authentic. Looking forward to hear from you
Moe hi and thanks for this. I saw these and you are right to note them. In essence, I agree with your comments (and a really consistent Taliban theme has been the importance they attach to their brothers in prison) and I need to have a re-read and a think about these taliban statements. The human rights and international political angles are not entirely new, but certainly interesting – I wrote this in June on the subject, which might be of interest: https://afghanhindsight.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/talking-to-the-taliban/
For your info, I am currently trying to write a paper looking at political aspects of the Taliban’s messaging and actions, but, in particular, ways in which the Taliban might be engaged more constructively by the international communnity.
Thanks for your engagement – I welcome your thoughts!
Cheers
Tim
Hi Tim, fantastic articles. I have just come across this and it is a great read and some really good analysis. Keep it up and looking forward to more.
Thanks and much appreciated!
Tim, Have you read the novel “Kara Kush” by Idries Shah?
Hi Tim, hope you’re keeping well? Would it be possible to arrange an interview with you about the managing of the UK’s evacuation from Afghanistan? I’m a journalist at TRT World