As Taliban seeks international acceptance, countries try to join—but fall short of recognition

No country has given such recognition until almost a month after the fall of the Afghan Republic. Nevertheless, governments around the world, as well as the United Nations, are eager to open high-level contacts with the Taliban, especially as the country faces a humanitarian crisis.

Some Western governments say such talks with the Taliban are possible – and desirable – without their administration’s legal recognition. “Before recognition they have to have some sort of mandate from the political will of the people. But apart from the question of recognition, we can negotiate with them, we can engage with them,” said a senior Western diplomat.

The diplomat said that the engagement could take the form of diplomats making a short-term visit to Kabul, before the reopening of Western embassies, all closed since the fall of Kabul on August 15, as security on the ground permits. , said the diplomat.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Sunday became the first foreign government minister to visit Kabul after the Taliban takeover. Conflicting narratives about the brief visit highlighted the group’s desire for international acceptance—and the international community’s reluctance until a number of conditions were met.

In a winning statement, the Taliban implied that their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had finally received its first recognition. “The Qatari Foreign Minister congratulated the IEA leadership and all Afghan people on the victory and stressed the need to promote bilateral relations,” the Taliban said.

There was a stir in Doha. The Qatari account of the Kabul talks between Sheikh Mohammed and the new prime minister of the Taliban government, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, makes no mention of any congratulations.

Instead, it reiterated the concerns of most of the international community. According to the Doha statement, in Kabul, Qatar’s foreign minister urged the Taliban to form a more inclusive government to ensure freedom of passage for Afghanistan and foreigners, and to combat international terrorism.

A tweet by the Qatari Foreign Ministry also contained photographs of Sheikh Mohammed’s meeting with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and former chief peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul. Despite the Taliban’s previous promises to share power with other political leaders, the Taliban formed an interim government last week consisting exclusively of senior members of the Islamic movement.

That government has said repeatedly that it wants Western embassies to return. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan seeks peaceful and positive relations with the world,” declares the giant billboard in English that the Taliban put up at the passenger terminal of Kabul’s international airport.

“Recognition is very important. If the US and Western countries don’t give Afghanistan a hand, the Taliban will have to,” said Taliban political analyst Ruhollah Omar in an interview with the new government’s information ministry on Monday. Extend your hand to Russia and China.”

He said foreign demands for political inclusion make no sense as the Taliban are bound by their commitments to the US in the February 2020 Doha agreements to ensure that Afghan soil is used to jeopardize the security of other countries. will not be done.

Mr. Omar said, “The world should realize that what is needed is not inclusivity, but security. If we are in government, Karzai, Abdullah, Russia or all other people who have ties with China or other countries and they will allow someone to attack another country, then how can we be held responsible for that?”

The Taliban is not a monolithic movement, and many rank-and-file fighters say they are upset by what they see as an unnecessarily soft approach to former enemies. Diplomats say that various factions saw the ministerial post as spoils of war, reflecting above all a desire by the new government to stop internal conflict.

The Taliban on Monday put an end to rumors that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the relatively moderate deputy prime minister who headed the group’s political office in Doha, was assassinated in clashes at Kabul’s Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. Mr Baradar, who was flown back to Afghanistan by a Qatari military plane last month, was not among the notable people who met Qatar’s foreign minister on Sunday.

In an audio statement published by the Taliban, Mr Baradar said he was traveling out of Kabul and that the news of his passing was a “shameful lie”. Ghazni Province.

When the Taliban ruled Kabul between 1996 and 2001, before the US invasion, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had given diplomatic recognition to their regime. The previous mujahideen government—with strongholds in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan—retained the country’s UN seat and other embassies. The Taliban administration communicated with the United Nations and the United States through an informal office in Queens, New York.

Taliban officials in Kabul say that now the situation is completely different. After capturing the capital of the previous holdout province of Panjshir last week, the Taliban are now in uncontested control of the entire country. “After 43 years, the war in Afghanistan is finally over,” said Enamullah Samangani, a Taliban spokesman and former rebel commander in northern Samangan province.

There has been no serious attempt to form an Afghan government in exile since President Ashraf Ghani fled the United Arab Emirates on August 15. Yet, for now, all of Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions abroad, including its mission to the United Nations and the embassy in Washington, remain closed. , still hoists the flag of the fallen Afghan Republic.

The US and all other Western countries have closed their embassies in Kabul following the Taliban takeover, turning the once bustling green zone that houses thousands of diplomats and contractors into a deserted ghost town where Stray dogs walk through the streets of concrete blast barriers.

In hopes of recognition, the Taliban are guarding most of these embassies, although some – such as Norway’s mission, located just outside the Green Zone – have been looted by Islamist fighters, who also destroyed diplomats’ wine collections on camera. Had given. The US and several other countries have temporarily moved their diplomats dealing with Afghanistan to Doha.

In contrast, China, Russia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and neighboring Central Asian states have maintained their diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, notably Qatar’s involvement in organizing the repair of Kabul airport and the evacuation of foreign nationals last week. played a big role. . The United Nations has also kept a large number of personnel at its Kabul headquarters. Senior UN officials have traveled to Kabul this month to meet with key Taliban leaders – whom the UN now refers to as “de facto officials”.

Maintaining an embassy in a country does not equal recognition of its government, with diplomats saying that many Western countries have kept their embassies open in Myanmar, even though they supported the military regime that took power after that country’s February coup. not recognized.

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed