Lhe international community no longer knows how to deal with Afghanistan. Three years after regaining power in Kabul, the Taliban regime continues its policy of erasing women from society by reducing them to silence and social invisibility. This rural and nationalist theocracy does not care about the world’s recriminations and denounces external interference.
The major powers, the UN and regional neighbours are divided over how to deal with the Afghan Islamists. Some are sticking to humanitarian aid alone, others are arguing for support for the country’s development, and the more conciliatory are maintaining polite relations without taking the step of official recognition.
After a chaotic departure from Kabul in the summer of 2021, the United States first cut diplomatic and security ties with those who had driven them out. Then, discreetly, Washington resumed intermittent dialogue with the Taliban. Since then, the relationship has stabilized. The American authorities seem to consider that it is in the interests of their security, but also of their regional influence, to consolidate ties with the Islamist regime.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Afghanistan is living on American financial life support
Add to your selections
In fact, financially, Washington has never let go of Kabul. At the end of July, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), tasked by Congress with monitoring the use of American funds, recalled that the United States “allocated or made available $20.7 billion [18,5 milliards d’euros] help » since the withdrawal of their forces. This amount includes humanitarian aid, development support, care for Afghan refugees and the assets of the Afghan state, frozen by Washington and transferred, at the end of 2022, to the Afghan Fund created by the American Treasury to stabilize the country’s currency. The sworn enemy of the Taliban remains its main donor.
American diplomatic shift
For the time being, however, there is no intention for the Americans, unlike the Chinese, the Russians, the chancelleries of Central Asia or certain Gulf countries, to regain a foothold in Kabul. Meetings between Washington diplomats and the Taliban leaders are taking place in Doha, Qatar. No contracts have been signed either, as with Beijing, on the exploitation of extracted raw materials or the organization of regional trade conferences, as in Iran or Russia. However, neither Beijing, nor Moscow, nor even Islamabad, the Taliban’s historically close neighbor, have officially recognized the Kabul regime.
You have 55.15% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
