China, Iran, Russia and the UAE seem to adopt pragmatic positions in Afghanistan and open their hands to relations with the fundamentalist group
June 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The regime imposed by the Taliban after regaining control of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 is close to three years in existence and, although so far it has not achieved formal recognition by any country, in recent months They have been the reflection of a thawing of relations that point to an improvement in ties with some States in the region, among which Russia stands out.
The group, a Sunni fundamentalist movement made up mostly of members of the Pashtun community, controlled much of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, when it was overthrown in a US-led invasion following the September 11 attacks by the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. .
The invasion caused the fall of the Taliban regime, which went on to lead a guerrilla war for more than a decade, with its center of power in the province of Kandahar (southern), from where they extended their tentacles until causing the collapse of the supported government. internationally in the process of withdrawal of international troops.
The collapse of these authorities was reflected in the flight from the capital, Kabul, of the then president, Hamid Karzai, when the fundamentalists were already close to the city and in the images of the evacuations of thousands of people now with the Taliban at the head of the country, in which they have reimposed an interim government that has greatly restricted civil liberties.
These authorities, headed by the supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Hebatullah Ajundzada – who has imposed an ultra-orthodox interpretation of ‘sharia’ that has been materialized in the practical expulsion of women from public life and the prohibition of education for girls–, have not achieved international support, due to concern about the extremist positions of the Taliban.
However, the Taliban’s repeated calls for recognition and the economic opportunities that the country offers, as well as concerns about the territory being used by other terrorist groups, have led some countries to change their position and establish some relations. –mainly economic– with the fundamentalists.
Thus, in October 2023, China became the first country to appoint a diplomatic representative in Kabul, in what the Asian giant attributed to an attempt to keep communication channels open with Afghanistan. Following this, the Taliban ambassador in Beijing, Asadullah Bilal Karimi – the group’s former deputy spokesman – formally took office in December last year.
Previously, Beijing and the Taliban had signed a contract in January of that year for the extraction of oil in the Amu River basin (north), which was the first agreement of this type since August 2021. In addition, numerous countries in The Central Asian region have authorized the Taliban to appoint personnel and manage Afghan diplomatic legations in their territories, including Pakistan, Russia, Qatar, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, although none have taken the step of recognizing to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
IRAN’S SECURITY APPROACH
In this context, Iran has expressed its willingness to “strengthen cooperation” in anti-terrorist matters with the Taliban, after handing over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to the group in February 2023, which then spoke of “an important step” for relations between both countries, which have religious leaders with visions of Islam that are at odds with each other.
In this way, Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan, Hasan Kazemi Ghomi, pointed to terrorism, “and specifically the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP)” – the Afghan branch of the group – as “a common threat” after a attack against a Shiite mosque in the Afghan province of Herat. “We consider Afghanistan as our partner in the fight against this common threat and cooperation in this field will be one of the priorities,” Ghomi said, despite existing disagreements, which mainly revolve around border and water security. of the Helmand River.
The change in Iran’s position towards the group could be due to Tehran considering the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan – whose departure from the region Iran has insistently demanded in recent years, arguing that they are a source of instability -, It represents an opportunity to advance its diplomatic agenda and increase its influence in Central Asia.
Thus, although the Iranian authorities maintain relations with the National Resistance Front (FNR), militarily opposed to the Taliban, and with the former ‘warlord’ Ismail Khan, also opposed to the fundamentalists, they seem to assume that none of these groups currently pose a threat to the dominance of the movement led by Ajudnzada, thus prioritizing ‘real politik’ to address the main threats facing the country.
PUTIN’S SUPPORT AND VISIT TO THE UAE
However, the main support for the Taliban has recently come from the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who has argued that the fundamentalists “are the ones who control the country and its territory and the current authorities in Afghanistan.” “We have to start from reality and build relationships from there,” he said.
The Russian president’s words came after Moscow invited the Taliban to the largest annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg and within the framework of a slow opening towards the group, which however remains illegalized by the Russian authorities, who have considered them since 2003. as a terrorist group.
Russia could be distancing itself from its traditional stance towards the Taliban, the scene of a bloody war between the mujahideen and the Soviet Union during the military occupation of the Central Asian country during the Cold War, at a time of growing tensions with the West over the invasion of Ukraine and the risk of open conflict with NATO.
These diplomatic advances by the Taliban have been materialized in the recent visit of the Afghan Interior Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani – who has a reward of ten million dollars from the United States for his role at the head of the terrorist group Haqqani Network. ally of the fundamentalists–, to Abu Dhabi, where he met with the Emirati president, Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, with whom he discussed “strengthening ties of cooperation,” according to the Emirati state news agency.
The United States suspects that Haqqani was responsible for providing protection to Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri, who died in a bombing in 2022 in a home in Kabul linked to the Minister of the Interior, despite the fact that the group had committed to the historic agreement. 2020 peace agreement not to welcome members of terrorist groups into its territory.
The UAE was one of the few countries – along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan – that currently maintains tense relations with the Taliban for security reasons and the increasingly frequent attacks by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – who recognized the first Taliban regime, so there are doubts about whether Haqqani’s visit could be a signal in this regard.
These events take place less than a month before the international conference that the United Nations is organizing and that will take place on June 30 in Qatar to try to increase and coordinate activities in Afghanistan, mired in one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, deepened since August 2021 due to the management of the Taliban and the impact of the sanctions against the country.
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