The Taliban’s Foreign Relations: A Year of Solitude

No country has recognized the new regime established by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and a year after the Taliban’s return to power, the movement is still struggling to gain international recognition and internal legitimacy with increasing pressure from economic and security problems.

A year has passed since the Taliban came to power on August 15, 2021, and the movement is still struggling to gain international recognition and internal legitimacy. The frequency of violence and fighting has decreased significantly, however, serious security problems remain. In this paper, we shed light on the foreign relations of the Taliban, the demands of neighboring countries, and what the United States wants from the Taliban in return for recognition of it as a legitimate government.

Since the collapse of the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the foreign relations of Afghanistan are going through a transitional phase. No country recognized the new regime established by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but a number of countries opened diplomatic channels unofficially in Kabul.

Before the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan chose a policy of neutrality and non-alignment in its foreign relations, and after the invasion, in December 1979, Afghan foreign policy reflected the policy of the former Soviet Union in its dealings with the world. After the stage of the Afghan jihad against the Soviet invasion that was forced to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989, most European countries and the United States closed the headquarters of their diplomatic missions in the capital, Kabul, as a result of the outbreak of civil wars between the former Mujahideen (1) .

After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the last communist president of Afghanistan, Dr. Najibullah, tried to break Afghanistan’s isolation and rapprochement with the Islamic world and the non-aligned countries, but he was unable to do so because of the position of the United States towards his government at the time, and today the Taliban movement is going through the same experience and suffers from the international isolation that imposed by Washington and the international community on Afghanistan.

After the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and the Bonn Agreement, the Afghan government led by former Afghan President Hamid Karzai began restoring diplomatic relations with many countries that had established diplomatic relations prior to the Soviet invasion and civil war in Afghanistan.  

In its contemporary history, Afghanistan has not enjoyed foreign relations as it did during the presence of US and foreign forces in Afghanistan, but it declined with the Taliban movement coming to power on August 15, 2021, and only five foreign embassies remained in the capital, Kabul. All of this is affected by the American position and the nature of relations with the United States of America.

Afghan-American relations

These relations passed through major milestones, the most important of which were:

• Afghan-American relations began during the reign of Prince Amanullah Khan, in 1921 (2) .
• William Harrison was appointed as the US envoy to Afghanistan, in 1935, while he was living in Tehran.
• Opening of the American legation in Afghanistan, 1942.
• The appointment of Colonel Gordon B. Anders, first military attache to Afghanistan, 1945.
• Opening of the American Embassy in Kabul, 1948, and the appointment of Louis Goethe as the first American ambassador to Afghanistan (3) .
• Appointment of Habibullah Karzai, the first Afghan ambassador to the United States, in 1953 (4) .
• Muhammad Daoud Khan, the first Afghan prime minister, spoke in the US Congress, 1958.
• US President Eisenhower visited Afghanistan in December 1959 (5) .
• The late Afghan king, Muhammad Zahir Shah, visited the United States and met his American counterpart, John F. Kennedy, in 1963.
• The murder of the former US ambassador, Adolphe Dobbs, in 1979, cooled relations between the United States and Kabul (6) .
• Closure of the US Embassy in Kabul, 1989, for security reasons.
• The first dispute between Washington and the Taliban movement regarding the extradition of the founder of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, following the bombing of the US embassies, in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, 1998.
• In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001, George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban movement then ruling Afghanistan hand over Osama bin Laden. The Taliban refused to hand him over unless close evidence of his connection to the attacks was presented, and the United States refused to provide evidence. On October 7, 2001, the US military launched Operation Enduring Freedom in cooperation with the United Kingdom and occupied Afghanistan.
• The Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies were defeated in the invasion by US-led forces and the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban in 2001.
• At the Bonn Conference in 2001, the new Afghan interim authorities elected Hamid Karzai as head of the Afghan interim administration, and relations with the United States were restored.
• Signing of the Long-Term Strategic Partnership Agreement between Afghanistan and the United States, 2005.
• The United States announced the opening of its consulates in four major cities (Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif), 2011 (7) .
• Signing of a security agreement between Washington and Kabul, 2012.
• Designation of Afghanistan by the United States as a Major Non-NATO Ally, 2012.
• Beginning of the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, 2014.
• The signing of the Doha Agreement between the United States and the Taliban in Doha, 2020.
• An orderly withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan begins, 2021.
• Handing over of the US Bagram base to Afghan forces, 2021 (8) .
• Afghanistan National Bank Balance Freeze, 2022.
• The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, downtown, Kabul, 2022.

The United States and the Taliban

Observers differ in determining the date of the beginning of relations between the United States and the Taliban movement, but it is likely that it dates back to the mid-1990s, and when the Taliban emerged during the civil war as an active force in Afghanistan, the United States supported it as hostile to Iran, and Washington tried to gain its support for the gas transportation project from Central Asia through Afghan territory to Pakistan and India, and then the US company “Uno Cal” contacted the Taliban to obtain a contract to implement it.

The United States decided to distance itself from the Taliban movement in 1997, when the American Gas Company withdrew from the competition for the project to transport gas from Central Asia (9) .

The Taliban movement in its first government managed to obtain Afghanistan’s seat in the United Nations and appointed Abdul Hakim Mujahid, Afghanistan’s delegate to the United Nations, in addition to the recognition of the Taliban government by Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

After the events of September 11, 2001, and the refusal of the founder of the Taliban movement, Mullah Muhammad Omar, to hand over the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, to the United States, Saudi Arabia and the UAE withdrew their recognition of the Taliban government, and Pakistan remained the only country that recognized the Taliban government (10) .

Today, Taliban officials see that the main obstacle to the world’s recognition of the Taliban government is the United States of America, and that if it recognizes the rest of the countries and the world will take the initiative to recognize this government, and the acting Afghan Prime Minister, Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, said: “The world deals according to the vision. The United States and the Islamic countries must take the initiative to recognize us” (11) .

Some Afghan experts believe that the formation of an expanded government, women’s rights, the closure of girls’ schools, the Taliban movement’s relationship with al-Qaeda and terrorist groups stand as major obstacles to the United States and the world’s recognition of the Taliban government, but a source in the Afghan Foreign Ministry says: The matter is not limited to these demands, but there are major demands Others are demanded by the United States, as it demands the implementation of the Doha Agreement annexes, which were approved by the Taliban during negotiations between them and Washington. The source added: “The United States demands the Taliban movement cut ties with China, give the United States a role in economic projects, especially mines, and cut ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, but the movement justifies its relationship with China by virtue of its neighborhood and that it cannot be severed” (12) .

The United States and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement, which opened the way for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, on August 30, 2021. Several officials in the government of former Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani believe that the Doha negotiations were withdrawal talks, not peace, so Afghanistan retreated Two decades at the international level, and despite the passage of a full year, the Taliban has not been able to obtain recognition for its government.

Over the past year, the Taliban movement has not been able to make significant achievements that open the way for the international community to deal with its government, and it has not met the expectations of the international community, which has further isolated the Taliban. Over the past year, the movement has been subjected to pressure from the international community and the Afghan people. This isolation has caused financial and humanitarian problems.

We will stop at six files that the Taliban tried to advance but failed to achieve since it came to power on August 15, 2021.

First: Recognition of the Afghan government

After the Taliban came to power, the United States chose a pragmatic engagement stance in Afghanistan. The United States has not yet made a decision on recognizing the Taliban or any other entity as the government or part of Afghanistan.

When we analyze the dealings of the United States, the European Union and regional powers with the government formed by the Taliban movement, we realize that there is a duality in dealing with the Taliban movement and that there are three international positions regarding the recognition of the Taliban government. The Taliban but on its own terms, and the European Union does not want to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government and believes that the Taliban does not respect human rights. As for China and Russia, they want to deal with the new Afghan government, but without recognizing it because of its security concerns, and there is a high possibility that Russia will resort to bombing some areas in In northern Afghanistan, under the pretext of fighting ISIS, and China is concerned about the Taliban hosting Uyghur fighters, and on the other hand, the presence of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul affected the position of a number of countries in dealing with the Taliban movement” (13 )

During its first rule in Afghanistan, the Taliban movement suffered from isolation and marginalization, and today it is trying to open diplomatic channels with the world without preconditions, but the world imposes its conditions in exchange for recognition of its government.

Second: Trying to get a seat at the United Nations

The leader of the Taliban movement, Sheikh Hebatullah Akhundzada, spokesman for the Politburo and a member of the negotiating committee, appointed Sohail Shaheen as the representative of Afghanistan to the international organization, in the hope of obtaining Afghanistan’s seat in the United Nations, Sohail was the movement’s candidate for this position in the 1990s but could not win With this seat, Abdul Hakim Mujahid was then appointed.

The Taliban’s efforts culminated when the permanent representative of Afghanistan, Ghulam Muhammad Ishaqzai, resigned from his position. The Taliban tried to present its candidate, Sohail Shaheen, and gain the seat through pressure on the international community and extensive propaganda by the movement’s lobbyists, but all these attempts failed.

Third: The Central Bank’s Frozen Funds

Two days before the fall of the Afghan capital, Kabul, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, called the former Afghan President, Muhammad Ashraf Ghani, and told him that the Afghan assets in American banks had been frozen and that he could not dispose of them under the pretext of depriving the Taliban movement whose fighters had reached the gates of the capital, Kabul. (14) .

The Taliban movement and its political office in Qatar and allied countries tried to release these funds, but they did not succeed, and the acting Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaki, met the US envoy several times in Doha to talk about these funds, but his efforts failed because of the US position on the relationship with the Taliban Al-Qaeda and other armed movements.

It is unlikely that the Taliban will be able to persuade the United States to lift sanctions on Afghan assets because the goal of the asset and aid freeze is to keep funds out of Taliban hands until more is known about how the group will govern and how it will deal with Afghan citizens and the world (15) .

Fourth: Taking over embassies

During the past year, the Afghan government managed to receive about ten embassies of Afghanistan in Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China and Qatar. And handing over embassies does not mean that these countries have recognized the new Afghan government, although a number of these countries are considered among the most important regional supporters of the Taliban. A number of Afghan government officials admit that it failed to take over any embassy in European countries, the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (16) .

Fifth: Tensions with neighboring countries

Contrary to previous Afghan governments, which chose a policy of silence towards the actions of neighbors in the common border with Afghanistan; Where Pakistani forces moved along the Durand Line separating Afghanistan and Pakistan more than twenty kilometers into Afghan territory, as well as Iran set up checkpoints in Nimroz province in western Afghanistan. Everyone expected that the Taliban’s arrival to power would help calm the atmosphere with neighboring countries, but the new Afghan forces were involved in clashes with Pakistani, Iranian, Uzbek and Turkmen forces in the common borders.

Since the Taliban movement came to power, its forces have clashed fifteen times with neighboring countries, three times with Iran and four times with Pakistan, because these two countries share a long border with Afghanistan (17) .

Sixth: the blacklist

In 1999, the UN Security Council decided to place sanctions and travel bans on 41 Taliban officials. Currently, 135 Taliban leaders are subject to sanctions including asset freezes and travel bans under a UN Security Council resolution issued in 2011, but 13 of them were granted exceptions to this ban so that they could meet with foreign officials on the pretext of participating in the negotiations. At the end of last month (August 31, 2022), the period of exemptions granted to them (18) expired .

Taliban sources say that during the discussions, China and Russia supported extending the waivers, while Washington wants to reduce the list of officials and destinations allowed for six leaders only so that they can travel for diplomatic reasons.

The travel ban list includes Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki, Afghan intelligence chief Abdul Haq Watheq, and Minister of Higher Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani and others.

Since taking office, Afghan Foreign Minister Mottaki has visited countries in the region, such as: Turkey, Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan, and now he cannot make any foreign visit due to the non-extension of the exemption period and travel permit.

The Taliban realizes that not removing the names of leaders from the blacklist will lead to more isolation of Afghanistan, and this will negatively affect the issue of recognition of its government, and Afghan funds will remain frozen in American banks and will lead to the collapse of the economic and political situation in Afghanistan (19) .

The Taliban and the fears of neighboring countries and Central Asia

A year after the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan’s neighbors are actively engaging with the Taliban but remain concerned about the uncertainties of Afghanistan’s security and political landscape.

The regional powers, especially Iran, Russia and China, who are happy with the departure of the US forces, are apprehensive about the void due to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Therefore, it demands stability and control of the situation in Afghanistan, even at the expense of human rights and democracy, and the formation of an expanded government that represents all segments of the Afghan people. The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the capital, Kabul, and the return of violence to the Afghan scene increased the concern of neighboring countries that Afghanistan would become a safe haven for armed and terrorist groups (20) .

Despite the assertion of the new Afghan government that Afghan lands will not be used against others and that it is committed to the Doha Agreement, the Taliban movement has not been able to dispel the concerns of neighboring countries and Central Asian countries about the security situation, and each country has its own concerns that are different from the other:

The United States and the West

Since the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the relationship between them and the Taliban has not been severed. The American envoy to Afghanistan, Tam West, met more than once with Afghan officials, in addition to the meeting of the Afghan Defense Minister, Mawlawi Muhammad Yaqoub Mujahid, with the head of the CIA in Doha.

After the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri and the return of American drones to the skies of Afghanistan, the relationship between the two parties deteriorated, and the United States seems concerned about the return of al-Qaeda elements to Afghanistan, while the European Union calls on the Taliban to respect human rights and Afghan women and to form an expanded government, and the Union’s main concern is The European is the wave of refugees, but the Taliban uses these files as a pressure card until it obtains recognition of its government (21) .

Pakistan

Since the Taliban came to power in 2021, their relationship with Pakistan has soured, surprising observers and countries in the region alike. It is no secret that the Pakistani army and intelligence services support the Taliban in their fight against the US forces and the former Afghan government.

The Taliban, the government, turned its back on Pakistan and did not offer much of what Pakistan expected, and it pursued a foreign policy that can be described as patriotic, and openness to India shows that; The Taliban emphasize national sovereignty and focus on their needs first.

One of the most contentious issues between the two sides was the erection of the fence on the border between the two countries along the disputed Durand Line since the 1940s, and Pakistan’s allowing US drones to use Pakistani airspace to kill al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the center of the capital, Kabul, escalated the dispute.

After the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, on August 31, 2021, drones returned to Afghan airspace and were flying around the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan around the clock. The new Afghan government did not comment on the presence of planes in its airspace, and after the assassination of Al-Zawahiri, both the Defense and Foreign Ministers talked about the presence of American planes and demanded Pakistan not to allow these planes to use its airspace (22) .

The relationship of the Taliban movement in its second government with Pakistan is different from the previous one. In the first government, Pakistan controlled the movement and was able to marginalize the elements opposing its role in the Afghan file prior to the events of September 11th. Afghanistan, and during the past two decades, the movement was able to open independent channels of communication with actors in the Afghan file, especially the United States, China and Russia.

Iran

The relationship of Iran and the Taliban goes back to 2012; Where Tehran allowed the opening of an office in the city of Zahedan, and a large number of Taliban leaders belonging to the Ishaq Zai tribe sought refuge in Iranian cities during the occupation of Afghanistan by US forces.

The relationship between Iran and the Taliban movement was characterized by hostility during the first period of the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan, but the relationship between the two parties became more conciliatory after 2010, as the former commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, was able to establish relations with the movement to unify efforts against the American forces deployed in Afghanistan (23 ) .

Iran is one of the countries that accepted the Taliban’s rule of Afghanistan as a fait accompli and handed over the Afghan embassy to the representative of the Afghan government. The Iranian envoy to Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, and other officials visited Afghanistan. Iran is concerned about the issue of Afghan refugees and illegal immigration, and the return of the Islamic State to the scene in Afghanistan.

Russia and Central Asia

Russia was one of the countries that did not recognize the Taliban government after taking control of Kabul in 1996, and supported the opponents of the Taliban, and on August 3, 1995, a plane belonging to a Russian airline was forced to land in Kandahar province, which was transporting 30 tons of ammunition from Albania to The Afghan opposition led by the late Afghan leader, Ahmed Shah Massoud, the first direct contact between the Taliban and Russia (24) .

In 2007, Russia established direct relations with the Taliban, and more than a decade has passed since the friendly relationship between Russia and the Taliban, and the conclusion of the Russian and Central Asian concerns lies in security matters and the fear of a return of violence to the areas adjacent to the Tajik-Afghan border in northern Afghanistan.

The Taliban made pledges to Russia and Central Asian countries to prevent the export of terrorism, and if the Taliban managed to defeat dozens of small terrorist groups such as the Tajik Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, then Russia and the Central Asian countries can be reassured. the state” (25) .

China

After the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, many expected Beijing to take the initiative quickly to fill the power vacuum and recognize the new regime in the country. The Taliban, like other observers, expected China to start investing in mines, especially copper and lithium, but despite the historical relationship between the two parties, China avoided recognizing the government formed by the Taliban after taking control of Kabul, and presented four conditions for dealing with the Taliban: taking a tough stance against the Uyghur fighters, forming an expanded government, moving away from the United States, and adjusting domestic policies (26) .

Conclusion

The Taliban government’s efforts to gain international recognition remain stalled, while economic and security problems persist and complicate its international relations. Neighboring countries and regional powers do not have many options in dealing with the new Afghan government, and they have accepted the de facto rule of the Taliban for Afghanistan, and see no alternative on the ground for the movement, so they have chosen a strategy of participation. Uzbekistan, Turkey and the State of Qatar have offered their efforts in various ways to mediate with the international community, and with the Afghan political factions that the Taliban have excluded from the political scene; These efforts are still continuing without achieving the desired goal. With the escalation of the security threat, the countries of the region are concerned that the Taliban will not be able to contain cross-border threats and prevent immigration and drug trafficking, and if it manages to do so and reassures its neighbors, it will at least win the recognition of the countries of the region. 

About the author

Hamidullah Muhammad Shah

Afghan researcher and Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan.REFERENCE

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