Intransigent Taliban risk global isolation
The international community had asked the Taliban regime, vide UN Security Council resolution No. 2593 (2021) dated August 30, to seek an inclusive government in Afghanistan based on negotiated political settlement with full and equal participation of women and to ensure that the soil of the country was not used by various terror groups to launch attacks against other countries. After six weeks of its armed occupation, it is clear that the Taliban have ignored these suggestions while implementing its harsh ultra-conservative Islamic rule in the country.
The Taliban went back soon on its statement of August 27 that Afghans would be able to travel abroad anytime they wanted to. It imposed severe restrictions on the working of journalists (those covering women’s protests were mercilessly beaten) and killed many former government officials and civilians despite announcing a general amnesty. The working Afghan women were told not to come; the girls in secondary schools were not allowed to resume their studies. The protesting men and women against the Taliban rule were dispersed with the threat of gun.
The barbaric punishments, reminiscent of the Taliban rule in the 1990s (Taliban 1.0) have returned with the public hanging of the body of a person killed by the police for abduction. Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, who was head of the Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Taliban 1.0, said recently that public executions, amputation of hands and other similar punishments would be reintroduced as these were in conformity with Islam and necessary for security.
The Taliban cabinet is dominated by hardliners, including Mullah Hasan, who is known for his rigid religious views as the Prime Minister and Pakistan’s ISI favourite, Sirajuddin Haqqani, as its Interior Minister. Amir Khan Muttaqi, who was in charge of propaganda and served as the Chief of Staff to the Supreme Leader has been named as the Foreign Minister. A large number of Taliban ministers are on the lists of terrorists proscribed by the UN Security Council, the US government and others. The Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, in a message recently, asked the Taliban government to uphold the Sharia.
Pakistan, supported by China and Russia, is spearheading a campaign asking the US, UK and other countries to resume aid to Afghanistan, be “realistic, show patience and engage the Taliban”. “Don’t isolate the Taliban,” says Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, “the international community has to realise what is the alternative, there are no other options.” Qureshi says the Taliban are listening to the international community. As an example, the Taliban have included members from Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara communities in the cabinet. Others point out that these are mostly at lower levels while senior leaders have been completely excluded.
Instead of seeking support from the minorities, the Taliban have uprooted hundreds of families belonging to the Hazara community in the Gizab district of Uruzgan province and Pato district in Daikundi province of Afghanistan (despite these families having deeds on their lands dating back from 50 to 100 years) to allot those lands to its own fighters without any legal recourse and in violation of Sharia.
A large number of terror groups such as the IS, Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and others continue to breed in Afghanistan. IS sponsored bomb attacks near Kabul airport in end August, which killed about 170 persons including 13 US personnel, other IS-led attacks in Jalalabad, Kabul and other cities have taken place. The Taliban have not shown any inclination to act against most terror groups except a few IS elements.
China has been repeatedly urging the Taliban to check the activities of ETIM but is yet to get a convincing reply. TTP attacks on the Chinese personnel in Pakistan have slowed down the Chinese projects creating fresh irritants in China-Pakistan relations. A large consignment of heroin flowing from Afghanistan via Iran has been confiscated at the Mundra port in Gujarat. There has been a spurt in terror activities of the IS and Pakistan-based groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in J&K, Punjab and UP.
Eyewitness reports say that no government institution is functioning in Afghanistan. The government is not earning any money and no salaries are being disbursed; the people are forced to use up their savings or the little aid provided by the international agencies. With the freezing of Afghanistan’s reserves by the IMF and suspension of most international aid, about 93% of the Afghans were not getting enough food, according to WFP, in September 2021. Though the US has recently allowed limited humanitarian assistance to flow into Afghanistan, the recognition of the Taliban regime and provision of larger economic assistance would be contingent on the Taliban meeting the goals delineated by the international community.
Will the Taliban change their conservative beliefs and agree to set up a broad-based government? According to Prof Michael Sempley, an Irish expert, who studied the Taliban’s Islamic teachings, the Taliban follow a “war-like uncompromising rhetoric” in which all Afghan Muslims are encumbered to fight for the establishment of an Islamic Emirate. The coherence of the Taliban culture maintained over the last two decades derives primarily from religiosity, suppression of dissent, spartan ethos and complete dedication to jihad. The Taliban want global recognition without deviating much from their strict Islamic norms.
If the Taliban continue to ignore the demands of the international community, it is likely that they would be isolated. With the economy in a free fall and a large number of people without jobs and food, the protests against the Taliban’s conservative rule would gather momentum, spawning more violence, anarchy and instability. It will foster a fertile ground for the IS and other terror groups to intensify their activities, threatening peace and stability in South, Central Asia, the Middle East and the world. The global war against terror for 20 years would have been lost with the sacrifices of Afghan people and other countries going in vain.
