On 15-16 February 2022, representatives of the Afghan Taliban met representatives of the USA and the European Union in Doha, Qatar. Led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Afghan delegation sought to retrieve the frozen funds belonging to Afghanistan. On the other hand, the EU, steered by Thomas Niklasson, who was the EU’s special representative for Afghanistan, expressed the EU’s commitment to deliver Euro €500 million (equivalent to $560 million) through humanitarian organizations and the UN. That is, the channel to funnel money would be private– to the displeasure of the Afghan guests.
The Pashtun youth are raising their voice in their own (tribal) way, disapproved by the authorities. At the Islamabad High Court, the recent revelation that there are present (illegal) internment centres which have consumed lives of the internees is adding fuel to the fire. Instead of dealing with the local disgruntlement which is opening a window of opportunity for the TTP to assert itself, Pakistan is leaning on the Afghan Taliban to rein the TTP in. Apparently, on this account, Pakistan is getting indignant at the insouciance of the Afghan Taliban, who have prioritized controlling Kabul, consolidating victory, and arranging funds for running Afghanistan
Recovering frozen funds to run the country is the first challenge the Afghan Taliban have been facing since they took over Kabul on 15 August 2021. The next challenge is to get the Afghan government recognized by the international community. Nevertheless, the third challenge has also surfaced: devise a strategy to deal with the peace anxieties of Pakistan.
The first challenge is of paramount importance. Presently, Afghanistan is fund-starved and the circulation of money, especially through the banking sector, is trifling. On 22-24 January 2022, led by Amir Khan Muttaqi, a 15-member (all-male) Afghan delegation held meetings with diplomats of both the US and the EU in Oslo, Norway. The agenda was to discuss Afghanistan’s simmering humanitarian crisis which emerged from monetary dispossession.
The western diplomats made it clear that they tied humanitarian aid to an improvement in the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. For the Afghan Taliban, to fathom the definition of human rights and practice the same in their country is an arduous task, though there are instances wherein they have articulated compassion and clemency compared to squelching and stringency they exercised during their despotic rule from 1996 to 2001.
Releasing certain women right activists and accommodating an optional use of the Burqa are two recent examples. On the first day of the meeting, the Afghan delegation had to meet women activists and journalists from Afghanistan to comprehend their concerns. These are the two groups who are weathering the Taliban brutality since August 2021.
Of the intentions of the Afghan Taliban, both women activists and journalists are apprehensive. They want the Afghan Taliban to do more on human rights violations such as arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and crackdown on journalists. Prevailing in these demands, there is a message for Pakistan. It is not only the local people who have grown into custodians of their rights, but it is also the international scenario which inspires these demands. Generally speaking, there is a growing concern in the world about fast deteriorating democratic values in the countries which yearned for democracy after they got independence. Any system anchored in populism has undermined democracy all over the world. The tyranny of post-truth has jeopardized internal peace and stability in many countries. Even established western democracies failed to evade such crises.
In Afghanistan, both women activists and journalists consider that once the financial crisis is over, the Afghan Taliban would listen to no one. The Afghan Taliban made efforts to get $10 billion of the Afghan Central Bank back, besides getting restored financial help from international donor agencies. On February 11, however, the US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to split $7 billion of the frozen Afghan money held in the US into two halves: one half to be doled out to humanitarian organizations working in Afghanistan and the other half to be withheld as financial reparation to the victims of 9/11. Retrospectively, once the Afghan Taliban agreed (as they did in the peace agreement of 29 February 2020 with the USA) that they would not let the Afghan land be used by the al-Qaeda in the future, they admitted that the Afghan land was misused in the past, hence paving the way for the recompense.
Seeking financial restoration and getting recognized by the international community are two intertwined challenges Afghanistan is confronted with. Headed by the USA and the EU, the international community demands that the Afghan Taliban deliver on their commitments such as fostering an inclusive government, respecting female rights and purging the country of international terrorist groups, before any legitimacy through recognition is offered to them. Non-recognition by the international community has rendered the Afghan Taliban dissociated from international finance institutions which otherwise could extend monetary help. This is a double-whammy: Neither can the Afghan Taliban salvage the suspended funds from the USA and the EU nor can they seek loans from international financial benefactors.
The third challenge upsetting the Afghan Taliban is how to develop means to cope with the anxieties of Pakistan, which is wary of the deeds of the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the activists of which have sought refuge in south-east Afghanistan. The situation is tense and terrible between Pakistan and the TTP, as the latter is bent on attacking from Afghanistan on Pakistan’s border forces. The leftover weapons of the foreign forces have boosted the resolve of the TTP to antagonize Pakistan. Perceivably, the relationship between Pakistan and the TTP would deteriorate further. An added exasperating factor could be the discontent of the Pashtun youth with Pakistan, whether the issue is of forced disappearances or state coercion.
The Pashtun youth are raising their voice in their own (tribal) way, disapproved by the authorities. At the Islamabad High Court, the recent revelation that there are present (illegal) internment centres which have consumed lives of the internees is adding fuel to the fire. Instead of dealing with the local disgruntlement which is opening a window of opportunity for the TTP to assert itself, Pakistan is leaning on the Afghan Taliban to rein the TTP in. Apparently, on this account, Pakistan is getting indignant at the insouciance of the Afghan Taliban, who have prioritized controlling Kabul, consolidating victory, and arranging funds for running Afghanistan.
