Five years on, Afghanistan's Taliban build foreign ties despite rights concerns

Five years after returning to power, Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have built working relationships with a slate of countries, despite a lack of formal recognition. Russia remains the only nation to officially recognise the Taliban government, and many Western countries have demanded to see domestic reforms on human rights before considering doing the same. Read moreFour years after the fall of Kabul, Taliban succeeds in near-total exclusion of women But many states are nevertheless engaging with Afghanistan's leaders – including Britain and European Union members – driven largely by practical considerations. Beyond the high walls of the foreign ministry in central Kabul stand embassies, rows of travel agencies, and an airline billboard promising: "We're all connected." While few Afghans have the means to go abroad, their government "seeks relations with all countries", according to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. The authorities' diplomatic strategy has involved hosting envoys in Kabul – and frequently publishing the photos – including those from China, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Britain. China's ambassador to Afghanistan Zhao Sheng shakes hands with Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund on September 13, 2023. © Handout via AP "The countries of the region and our neighbouring states have particular importance, because our economic ties and interests are closely linked," Mujahid said last month. This year officials from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan gathered in Kabul, as landlocked Central Asia seeks trade routes through Afghanistan to access the sea beyond. Erica Gaston, who was part of a team mandated by the UN Security Council to identify strategies for addressing the challenges in Afghanistan, said regional nations were "always more pragmatic" in dealing with the Taliban authorities. "You had much more receptivity among regional member states to say, 'this is the reality that we have in our region and engagement is inevitable'," said Gaston, who heads the Conflict Prevention and Sustaining Peace Programme at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research. 'Impenetrable' issues As well as coordinating on security, Taliban officials have been touting cross-border infrastructure projects to boost the country's fragile economy while Afghans are hit hard by international aid cuts. Seeing potential in untapped natural resources, the government has expanded the mining sector, attracting firms from neighbouring China and elsewhere. But foreign funds have been scarce as investors remain wary of the Taliban government's limited official recognition, with rumours that Iran would follow Russia falling flat. Despite this, many Taliban officials travel abroad, including a delegation that flew to Brussels in June for talks with 15 EU nations about returning failed asylum-seekers to Afghanistan. Read moreEU hosts Afghan Taliban for migration talks slammed by rights groups A spokesperson for the bloc told AFP: "Those who have no legal right to stay in Europe must be returned." Germany has been at the forefront, and deported an Afghan not convicted of any crime for the first time since the Taliban's 2021 return to power, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in July. For Gaston, the passage of time has meant "more and more countries accept that this is the reality, even if it's a reality that they don't like or condone". But many have restricted further ties until they see changes in Afghanistan, particularly on rules that stop girls' education at age 12. Yet no policy shift is expected. Accusing Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of crimes against humanity over the persecution of women and girls, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for them last year. Read moreICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of Afghan women Afghan women remain banned from a host of places including UN premises, a rule still in force despite a visit last month by the heads of two of its agencies. A UN source in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said the ability to exert influence on the authorities remains "highly issue-dependent". "Some of these issues are kind of fairly impenetrable, but then you have other issues on which you are able to make progress," they told AFP, citing positive relations in some parts of Afghanistan on counternarcotics and humanitarian access. Political reality 'has changed' Multiple nations stepped in this year when Afghanistan and Pakistan went to war, with China hosting talks after hundreds of civilians were killed. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Malaysia were also engaged in trying to stop the fighting, according to the UN. Pakistan's arch-foe India has strengthened its ties with the Taliban government, with New Delhi securing a sanctions waiver last year so that Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi could travel there. In June, India's UN envoy suggested a rethink was necessary on sanctions – a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo – that target dozens of Taliban members. "The political reality of Afghanistan has changed in the last five years, and the current UN sanctions regime must take that into account," said Harish Parvathaneni. The diplomat stopped short of detailing what the new approach should be but, as the UN source told AFP, engagement with the Afghan government is "the current state of play". "Everybody recognises the fact that, essentially, Afghanistan is fully controlled by the de facto (Taliban) authorities and, essentially, there are multiple issues on which the world, the region, has to deal with them," they said. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)