Afghans suffer. Do not expect to see crying from the Taliban
Three years after America’s humiliating departure, the nation is still ignored
By The Economist
T HE STREETS of Kabul used to be riotously, almost headache-inducingly colourful. There were billboards advertising Western wear and Punjabi salwar kameez , murals promoting women’s and children’s rights, and everywhere the black-red-green tricolour of the Afghan Republic. Since the Taliban took over three years ago, a monochrome pall has settled on the city. Old posters have been ripped away. Murals have been painted over. The austere flag of the Afghan Emirate dominates, black text on a pure white field.
The term “black-and-white” is also a description of Western nations’ attitude towards Afghanistan after their humiliating withdrawal of the country on the 15th of August 2021. They have not made any progress. Sanctions relief as well as acceptance of their regime and and a position at UN–conditional to the restoration of rights for girls and women which are being excluded from many aspects of public life, such as secondary education. They Taliban have only increased their restrictions. They do not want to allow negotiations about what they believe to be an internal issue.
The problem is that neither the West appears to be thinking too much about Afghanistan even at all. The conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East are immediate crises. Faced with the challenges of China’s rising power is a constant concern, while the election in America is constantly on the agenda at home and is being watched with apprehension at a distance. Western leaders don’t have anything to gain by reminding voters of the 20-year war that ended in a crushing defeat. The approval rating of President Biden fell after the disastrous departure of Afghanistan. American “foreign policy has been to keep it out of the headlines and keep it off the president’s desk,” says Ashley Jackson of the Overseas Development Institute which is a think-tank. Afghanistan isn’t so much been obliterated but it has been systematically neglected.
From a standpoint of security the ability to overlook a nation that has been a source of turmoil throughout the last half century is an exciting development as noted by Graeme Smith of the International Crisis Group which is a think-tank. However, he is concerned it is possible that “we are now overlooking some things that could come back to bite us”. In ignoring Afghanistan is also to overlook the 44 million Afghans living there with half of them girls and women. It’s to overlook the 12.4m of them in urgent require of food and the fifth of them at the brink of starvation. It is to overlook an imminent migration crisis as Afghans are attempting to move any country that offers getting a job. This is to not consider the effects of climate change, which is causing the nation’s droughts that occur regularly. This is to ignore the repercussions of natural catastrophes. In the last year, Afghanistan was struck by a quake which killed more than 1500 people, as well as a series of flash floods that caused the deaths of hundreds.
To ignore Afghanistan is to be ignoring the security of the world as well. Islamic State Khorasan Province ( ISKP) is an extremist group that is based in Afghanistan’s western part, has been a target of the Taliban and Afghanistan’s neighbors as well as of the west. ISKP is known to have conducted numerous strikes within Afghanistan and Iran as well as claimed as its own responsibility for the gruesome attack on a concert venue at Moscow in March. It is focused on Central Asia, Pakistan and India. There are rumors of an agreement to stop and start counter-terrorism cooperation among the American as well as Afghan governments, yet neither side would admit to that it is. “The emotional fact is that it is difficult to stomach the idea of working with the Taliban,” declares Mr. Smith.
The neighbors of Afghanistan have adopted an approach of realism. China is exploring opportunities in the area of economics specifically in Afghanistan’s mineral riches. Iran is determined for it to stay out of America out, stifle ISKP as well as even discuss water sharing. Pakistan’s primary concern is getting rid of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a vicious militant group that seeks an oasis in Afghanistan. One point of agreement across the region, among neighbors as well as those in the West can be found in the belief that there is no desire for change in the government and no desire for a new civil conflict.
If there’s a benefit to not having focus, it is that it gives some flexibility in maneuverability. It is true that the UN have arranged three rounds of talks about Afghanistan in Qatar with more than two dozen international and regional powers. Taliban were not invited to the first and Taliban weren’t invited at the beginning meeting and declined to participate at the next. They did however attend the third one, in summer, following they and the UN accepted to exempt women as well as other Afghans from the government. The talks did not yield any concrete outcomes, but only engagement is not enough to make the progress. It is unlikely that they would be held in the event that the seemingly unjustified exclusions were not subject to media scrutiny.
Similar to this similarly, also, the World Bank announced earlier this year that it was going to restart financing a project called CASA-1000 that connects the powerhouses of energy in Central Asia with Pakistan through Afghanistan. The cost of transit goes in the Afghan accounts that is located in Abu Dhabi and can be used for only the purchase of electricity. But when the Taliban are able to spend less on power, they can free the money to invest in other items that make the regime stronger and more efficient. The announcement was met with only a small amount of media attention.
What happens to the Afghans? There’s positive news. The country is now safer than it was a year ago, mainly because the gunmen who are responsible for shootings and bombings now control the country. The hospitals in remote regions are now accessible thanks to increased security and the repair of roads. A lot of girls and women get an education through “training courses” or madrassas. The amount of Afghans who are hungry has decreased by almost half from its high of 23 million. The economy, though shrinking but stagnant has stabilized. Companies report significantly lower levels of corruption despite their complaints about the efficiency of the Taliban’s tax collection.
However, the negative outweighs the positive. The hospitals may be accessible, but they’re underfunded, understaffed and unequipped. The poorer Afghan women are unable to afford”training courses” and are most affected by the ban on education. The job market is scarce. Every day, thousands of people are swarming the streets of Kabul in search of every day jobs. Perhaps one out of five find an employment. A daily wage worker will get two working days per week, according to Hsiao-Wei from the World Food Programme ( WFP) which is a UN agency. It’s more than 2022 when it was at the height of the post-war economic downturn but lower than before the outbreak. A lot of Afghans are trying to migrate.
Aid is also drying up. The fatigue of donors is growing. The number of people who are in need is among the highest in all conflict, claims Salma Ben Aissa from the International Rescue Committee, a human rights organization. WFP is expected to face an unfunded gap within the nation of $700 million over the next six months. As is the norm, the most affected are children and women. “The only good thing is security, but what should I do with security if I can’t feed my children,” says Jamila the mother of three who lives in the outskirts of Kabul.
The current situation will likely to persist. It is likely that the West will not abandon its insistence on restoring rights of girls and women. The Taliban won’t change their policies towards women or slacken their efforts to establish a state of religion. The Afghans’ neighbors are happy to protect their own interests, and abandon the high-minded rhetoric of their values to America. A number of nations that are not Western countries, have restored an presence on the ground but have not yet taken the step of opening embassies. However, the outside world is not in a position to formulate a strategy, with no specific goals and has no obligation to find solutions to Afghanistan’s challenges. According to one Western official who is based in Kabul says, “I don’t think we’re at the stage where we actually have a tangible road map.” Afghans have suffered through the war. They now suffer in peace. #