• About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Guest Post
  • Contact
Thursday, June 30, 2022
  • Login
World News Times
  • Home
  • News
    • Europe
      • France
      • Germany
      • Russia
      • United Kingdom
    • Americas
      • United States
      • Canada
      • Mexico
    • Asia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Pakistan
    • Australia
    • Middle East
    • Africa
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Environment
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
World News Times
  • Home
  • News
    • Europe
      • France
      • Germany
      • Russia
      • United Kingdom
    • Americas
      • United States
      • Canada
      • Mexico
    • Asia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Pakistan
    • Australia
    • Middle East
    • Africa
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Environment
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
World News Times
No Result
View All Result
Home News Asia Japan

The Taliban now need to find friends

WNTimes by WNTimes
August 23, 2021
in Japan
A A
0
132
SHARES
881
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

BISHKEK – The days and nights following the Taliban’s capture of Kabul and the collapse of the Afghan government have been remarkably calm.

Most shops and businesses are closed. Ordinary Afghans are hiding in their homes. The Taliban are acting as a police force, protecting the city from marauders. And yet, in this moment of relative stillness, Afghans are facing a monumental realization: They now live in a completely new country.

In defending his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan, U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged that events unfolded “more quickly” than U.S. officials had anticipated. According to Biden, that is because Afghanistan’s political leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, “gave up and fled the country,” and “the Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.” Afghanistan’s acting defense minister, Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, defended the military, tweeting, “They tied our hands from behind and sold the country. Curse Ghani and his gang.”

Whatever happened in Kabul’s corridors of power last week, now it is the Taliban that occupies them. But who are the Taliban, which the world’s mightiest country spent more than $2 trillion attempting to defeat, and what will their return to power mean for Afghans and their neighbors?

The Taliban are not a unified force, but rather a motley collection of groups with conflicting interests. There are significant differences between the “civilized” political wing represented by the political office in Doha, influential clergy and the numerous warlords on the ground. Afghans’ prospects depend crucially on which elements of the Taliban prove dominant. That is why it is essential to identify and support the more moderate Taliban leaders.

Here, there might be good news. The latest information suggests that Taliban co-founder and political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will become Afghanistan’s new leader. He has positioned himself as a pragmatic, experienced and thoughtful leader, capable of uniting influential Taliban groupings around him and negotiating effectively with international actors. On Aug. 17, Baradar arrived in Afghanistan.

Moreover, Taliban leaders have also pledged to create an “inclusive Islamic government.” According to Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson, such a government would include non-Taliban Afghans, including some “well-known figures.” One such figure could be former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has formed a coordination council to manage a peaceful transfer of power. That council — which is now in Doha to meet with Taliban leadership — also includes Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Ironically, this sort of “inclusivity” would exclude many of the Taliban’s more radical segments, raising the risk that the extremists will seek partnerships with terrorist groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State. But the bigger risk would arise from efforts to turn Afghanistan into a mono-ethnic (Pashtun) state, based on a winner-take-all mindset. This would almost certainly reignite civil war.

Beyond building an inclusive government, the Taliban will need to strengthen its army and police force and establish diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. Among the group’s fastest friends are likely to be Russia and China. Zamir Kabulov, a Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan, says that the Kremlin maintains good relations with the Taliban, so Russia is not worried about what is happening in the country. On a recent phone call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that they should “protect the legitimate interests” of their respective countries in Afghanistan, “report on the situation and support each other.”

The Taliban might also find willing partners in Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbors. The leaders of Afghanistan’s ethnic Uzbek and Tajik communities — the warlords Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor — did flee the country after the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, which they had been defending. Many commentators viewed this as a rejection of the Taliban. But I believe that it reflects an unwillingness to continue fighting and expect both men to return to Afghanistan soon.

More broadly, Central Asian countries seem to be cautiously optimistic about the potential for cooperation with a Taliban-led Afghanistan. After all, Baradar has pledged not to “allow the emergence of a threat and danger from Afghanistan” to Central Asian countries and has welcomed the Uzbek-initiated plan to construct the “Kabul Corridor” railway from Termez in Uzbekistan to Peshawar in Pakistan via Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul.

In fact, with the United States gone, the vision of a “Greater Central Asia” with more open trade and improved infrastructure among the countries of the region could gradually become a reality.

Afghanistan’s future will also be shaped by the policy of the U.S. and its allies. America’s humiliating defeat and chaotic retreat has severely undermined its international standing. The question now is how much responsibility, if any, the U.S. will take for ensuring the Afghan people’s well-being, given the leading role it played in destroying their country.

For now, the Biden administration says it is waiting for the Taliban to demonstrate their commitment to governing inclusively and preventing terrorism. But the U.S. and its allies must do more to help ordinary Afghans. Given the people’s lack of confidence in Western partners, independent Western-led initiatives are unlikely to work. Afghanistan’s neighbors and Russia must be involved.

The first step should be to convene a special international conference on Afghanistan involving all interested parties, with China and Russia central players. Donor countries must be united under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, and with the involvement of the U.N. system and multilateral development banks, they should create a special fund to assist in Afghanistan’s reconstruction.

On the diplomatic level, whether one likes it or not, Russia, with its deep influence in Central Asia, holds the key to rebuilding Afghanistan. If the West embraces this process, perhaps its relations with Russia can improve as well.

Djoomart Otorbaev is a former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan.©Project Syndicate, 2021

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

Source: The Japan Times

Tags: AfghanistanchinaJoe BidenrussiaTalibanTerrorismU.S.

Related Posts

Japan

Kanto power plant shutdown raises fear of shortage amid record June heat

June 30, 2022
Japan

Max Verstappen returns to Silverstone as favorite to finally claim title

June 30, 2022
Japan

11 years on, evacuation order lifted for part of ‘difficult-to-return’ Fukushima town

June 30, 2022
Japan

25 years after its handover, Hong Kong reflects on promises made

June 30, 2022
Japan

BOJ’s public relations crisis forces rethink on inflation message

June 30, 2022
Japan

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sworn in as Philippine president

June 30, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Premium Content

Reports Say That Israeli Spyware Has Been Linked To 50,000 Phone Numbers Worldwide

Reports Say That Israeli Spyware Has Been Linked To 50,000 Phone Numbers Worldwide

July 20, 2021
Covid-19

7 Future HR Trends Post Covid-19

September 12, 2021
Monkey B Virus

China Reports Its First Death from the Monkey B Virus

October 10, 2021
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

Amir Tsarfati: Breaking News

February 22, 2022

Female jockey Eszter Jeles dead at 21: ‘Hero’ rider suffers fatal injuries in horror mid-race fall

September 20, 2021

Jim Cramer: China's Evergrande 'contagion' stops at U.S. borders

November 21, 2021

Tammy Richards Lawsuit Against LoanDepot

September 23, 2021
Reports Say That Israeli Spyware Has Been Linked To 50,000 Phone Numbers Worldwide

Reports Say That Israeli Spyware Has Been Linked To 50,000 Phone Numbers Worldwide

0
lockdown

No lockdown even though the cases are high

0
cyber-surveillance

How To Become A Successful Business Consultant In The Internet Marketing Industry

0

The Ultimate Business Consultant Resources

0

Kanto power plant shutdown raises fear of shortage amid record June heat

June 30, 2022

AT&T vs. Xfinity: Two Home Internet Heavyweights Face Off

June 30, 2022

Wimbledon price boost: Nadal and Tsitsipas both to win in straight sets now 9/4

June 30, 2022

Vietnam ‘Napalm Girl’ gets final burn treatment in Florida 50 years later 

June 30, 2022

Latest News

Japan

Kanto power plant shutdown raises fear of shortage amid record June heat

June 30, 2022
Technology

AT&T vs. Xfinity: Two Home Internet Heavyweights Face Off

June 30, 2022
Sports

Wimbledon price boost: Nadal and Tsitsipas both to win in straight sets now 9/4

June 30, 2022
News

Vietnam ‘Napalm Girl’ gets final burn treatment in Florida 50 years later 

June 30, 2022
Russia

Russian Cinemas Sit Idle Amid Hollywood Walkout

June 30, 2022
United Kingdom

‘Total chaos’ at Heathrow as airport orders 30 flights to be cancelled

June 30, 2022
World News Times

World News Times is a site specialized in global news for all regions and continents such as Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, we offer you exclusive and certified news from the largest reliable sources in the world.

Categories

  • Africa
  • Australia
  • Business
  • Canada
  • China
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Europe
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Internet Marketing
  • Israeli Spyware
  • Japan
  • Latest News
  • Lockdown
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
  • News
  • Norway
  • Norway
  • Pakistan
  • Politics
  • Russia
  • Social Impact
  • Space
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Ukraine
  • Uncategorized
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Videos
  • Worldwide

Recent News

  • Kanto power plant shutdown raises fear of shortage amid record June heat
  • AT&T vs. Xfinity: Two Home Internet Heavyweights Face Off
  • Wimbledon price boost: Nadal and Tsitsipas both to win in straight sets now 9/4
  • Vietnam ‘Napalm Girl’ gets final burn treatment in Florida 50 years later 
  • Russian Cinemas Sit Idle Amid Hollywood Walkout
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Guest Post
  • Contact

© 2021 World News Times.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Europe
      • France
      • Germany
      • Russia
      • United Kingdom
    • Americas
      • United States
      • Canada
      • Mexico
    • Asia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Pakistan
    • Australia
    • Middle East
    • Africa
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Environment
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Videos

© 2021 World News Times.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In