New Delhi/Kabul: Five years into Taliban rule, Afghanistan has settled into an uneasy relationship with the outside world. The authorities in Kabul control the country, maintain working relations with several foreign governments and have resisted pressure to lift restrictions on women.
Russia has gone further than most by becoming the first country to formally recognise the Taliban government. The authorities can pursue relations with individual countries without first meeting the political conditions demanded by Western governments. Because many governments continue to assume that economic incentives or international recognition could persuade its leaders to modify their policies, this is significant for diplomacy.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s chief spokesman, said the movement wants countries to move beyond dealing with it from a distance. “If we want progress in our relations, we have to come closer to each other diplomatically,” he said. A former senior United Nations official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said recognition had become a weaker instrument of pressure than it was immediately after the takeover. Georgette Gagnon, the UN deputy special representative in Afghanistan and acting head of the UN mission in Kabul, said talks with the authorities have been slow and have produced setbacks, but should continue. “Even a stalled process is better than no process,” she said. “We want to be part of the international community,” he said. Gagnon said trust between the two sides had begun to develop through repeated contact, although she described progress as a series of small steps.
