In his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan called upon the world to support the new Taliban government in Afghanistan. There is no denying the fact that stability in Afghanistan is essential to maintain peace in the country and the region as well. Pakistan has already suffered some of the worst consequences of a neighbouring country being in an active state of war, that too for over 20 years. However, there are some prerequisites for the kind of international community support that must be met by the Taliban. There was a hope and an impression that a reformed Afghan Taliban had come to power after the fall of Kabul; however, events since prove otherwise. Just a few days following a statement from Taliban leader Mullah Nooruddin Turabi stating unequivocally that the group would carry out executions and amputations as before, the bodies of four alleged kidnappers who were killed in a shootout were hung on cranes and displayed in Herat’s city square. Moreover, secondary education for girls has been banned, a worrying echo of the 1990s when women’s freedom of movement and access to schools were restricted. In Helmand, barbers have been ordered not to trim or shave men’s beards, another common practice from the old Taliban style of rule. The Taliban are clearly reverting back to a system of governing that is violent, oppressive and has no place in the modern world. With an economy in tatters and on the brink of bankruptcy, the Taliban continuing the way they are, will not get the necessary global recognition, resources or support they require to rebuild the country and move towards a normal, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.
While Pakistan has engaged the Taliban government with regards to security and economic development, having held various meetings, it has refrained from condemning the human rights violations that have occurred so far. There is talk of expanding CPEC into Afghanistan and Pakistan has allowed the Taliban to operate flights on the Islamabad-Kabul route. There seems to be an unnecessary eagerness to please the Taliban on our part, which might irk countries that have outrightly condemned their actions and have made any potential recognition of the new Afghan regime conditional upon a noticeable effort to ensure human rights are not violated. The PTI government’s silence in this matter and unbridled advocacy of the Taliban sends out all the wrong messages to the world at large, something it ill-affords when it is trying to promote a ‘soft image’ of Pakistan.
