Emily Schneider is a program associate in the International Security Program at New America. She is also an assistant editor of the South Asia channel.
Afghan police officers stand gaurd near the Park Place guesthouse in Kabul early on May 14, 2015. Gunmen stormed a Kabul guesthouse popular with foreigners late on May 13 ahead of a planned concert, Afghan officials said, with people believed trapped inside and several casualties feared.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Park Place guesthouse in downtown Kabul, but the assault comes as the Taliban -- who have attacked such guesthouses in the past -- press their annual spring offensive. AFP PHOTO / FARSHAD USYAN (Photo credit should read FARSHAD USYAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistani volunteers stand beside the bus that was carrying Shiite Muslims and taken to a hospital after an attack by gunmen in Karachi on May 13, 2015. At least 43 members of Pakistan's Shiite Ismaili minority were killed when gunmen opened fire on their bus in Karachi on May 13, police said, with a leaflet at the scene claiming the attack on behalf of the Islamic State group. AFP PHOTO/ Rizwan TABASSUM (Photo credit should read RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)
US Press Secretary Josh Earnest speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2015. AFP PHOTO/NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
An Afghan policeman keeps watch at the scene of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul on May 10, 2015. A Taliban suicide bomber struck a government bus in Kabul on May 10, killing three and wounding at least 16 others, officials said, the second attack on attorney general office government bus in less than a week in the Afghan capital.The bus was transporting employees of the attorney general's office to their homes when the suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives strapped to his body, as the militants continue to press on with their annual spring offensive. AFP PHOTO / SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)
A Pakistani military UH-1 helicopter flies above during a Shiite Muslim religious procession marking Ashura in Quetta on November 4, 2014. Ashura mourns the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed by armies of the Yazid near Karbala in 680 AD. AFP PHOTO/BANARAS KHAN (Photo credit should read BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
US Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma leaves the Indian Parliament in New Delhi on May 6, 2015. AFP PHOTO/PRAKASH SINGH (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)
A Greenpeace activist demonstrates during a 30-hour long protest in New Delhi on November 16, 2013, to demand the release of a group of Greenpeace activists being held in Russia. The so-called "Arctic 30" were detained when the Russian Coast Guard boarded their Dutch-flagged Greenpeace vessel after several activists scaled a state-owned oil platform on September 18 in a protest. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN (Photo credit should read RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Afghan schoolgirls attend a class at the Shahid Nasseri refugee camp in Taraz Nahid village near the city of Saveh, some 130 kms southwest of the capital Tehran, on February 8, 2015. Some 5000 Afghan refugees live at the camp which is run by the Iranian Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants' Affairs (BAFIA), the World Food Program (WFP) and UNHCR. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 950,000 registered Afghan residents in Iran -- some of whom have never even set foot in their homeland -- but interior ministry estimates around three million Afghans living in the Islamic republic. AFP PHOTO / BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Supporters of freed prisoner of war US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl including representatives of the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK and March Forward, rally in front of the White House in Washington, DC, June 10, 2014, to welcome Bergdahl home after 5-years of being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
CAMP DAVID, MD - MARCH 23: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R), Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah (L) arrive for talks at Camp David March 23, 2015 in Camp David, Maryland. After a series of meetings about security, economic development, American support for the Afghan-led reconciliation process, the four leaders will hold a news conference. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A Pakistani camel-mounted military band performs during the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad on March 23, 2015. Pakistan held its first national day military parade for seven years, a display of pageantry aimed at showing the country has the upper hand in the fight against the Taliban. Mobile phone networks in the capital were disabled to thwart potential bomb attacks, some roads were closed to the public and much of the city was under heavy guard for the event. AFP PHOTO/ Aamir QURESHI (Photo credit should read AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NEW JERSEY - DECEMBER 15: Members od U.S. audience of armed forces listen to U.S. President Barack Obama speaks December 15, 2014 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. Obama will address the troops to thank them for their service and mark the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan. ahead of the upcoming holidays. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - NOVEMBER 14: A US Mail post box is seen near the US accommodation blocks at Kandahar airfield on November 14, 2014 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Now that British combat operations have ended and the last UK base in Afghanistan had been handed over to the control of Afghan security forces, any remaining troops are leaving the country via Kandahar. As the drawdown of the US-led coalition troops heads into its final stages, many parts of Kandahar airfield, once home to tens of thousands of soldiers and contractors, are being closed or handed over to the Afghans. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
