Last week the Global Friends of Afghanistan held their third conference on Afghanistan and focused on the future of governance in Afghanistan. Princeton and Georgetown also met in DC to look at the dire economic and humanitarian crisis in the country. One of the top concerns of all participants and panelists is the rate in which the Taliban and Haqqani terror network are moving towards recognition due to the fumbling of the international community, especially the UN and some NATO diplomats.
THE RACE IS ON
The Taliban and Haqqani regime swept into power just over three years ago and have radically changed the democratic society into a breeding ground for terrorists and a hellscape for women, girls, and minorities. The gender apartheid system was just fully codified with the release of a manual of edicts from the leader of the terror network who resides in Kandahar. As human rights activists and the press have pointed out, the Taliban and Haqqani leader’s families send their girls abroad for education in a bold act of hypocrisy.
At this moment the terror regime is rapidly building hundreds, if not thousands, of terrorist brainwashing centers for the boys and young men of the country. The semi-secular approach to education from the last two decades has been replaced with a curriculum that teaches hatred, religious superiority, and urges males to physically dominate women—which has led to an uptick in violence towards women. Having spent time editing the book of a former Pakistani Haqqani madrassa student, I can attest that even a few years of this sexual abuse, physical/mental torture, and ideological indoctrination can mentally alter a person for life.
The Taliban knows that they have a limited time to get full diplomatic and economic recognition before the world applies more sanctions on them and their associates, and/or the people in Afghanistan tire of the oppression and food/health crisis and start to forcibly evict the terrorists and send them back to Pakistan to their terror families.
That urgency has led the Taliban regime to focus on economic deals with neighbors that have been long in the works over the last two decades. Many of these deals could not be completed prior to 2021 due to constant terrorism against the Republic and murder of innocent civilians by the Taliban and their allies.
On the diplomatic front the terror regime has found it easy to woo other nations into accepting the credentials of their terror envoys. Not surprisingly many of those advancing diplomatic recognition on the terror regime either supported the last Taliban regime or are tied with enemies of the U.S.-NATO coalition. The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has begun a period where other nations are questioning the strength and loyalty of America.
As the latest Doha process talks showed the Taliban have figured out how to completely control the UN agenda. By forcing the UN to ban any women or Taliban political opposition from the Doha conference, the Taliban built even more leverage over their opponents.
Most recently the terror regime has begun seeking air defense systems from Russia. Almost like the terror regime knows that patience will run out in the U.S. and in some parts of the Pakistani military. The terrorists worry that drones could soon be hunting again to remove terrorist leaders where they sleep.
CAN THE TERROR REGIME BE STOPPED?
There are some options left to slow down and even reverse the Taliban and Haqqani terror network gains. I will dive into the details in a future piece but this summary should provide policymakers and diplomats with some ideas to explore—quickly.
First of course, is the people of Afghanistan could unite and stand-up and begin to take back parts of the country through protest, violence, information operations, and diplomacy. The biggest problem is that the citizens in Afghanistan think that the U.S. and NATO and Pakistan are all supporting the Taliban regime to suppress the people. The citizens are also struggling to organize themselves behind a set of principles of future governance—many spoilers are working hard to keep Afghans divided and quarreling.
Next, diplomats could simply begin to side with the opposition to the Taliban regime. Instead of focusing so much effort on entering into fruitless talks with the Taliban, the envoys could all coordinate to help the opposition to organize and talk with the diplomats frequently. That would disempower the regime.
Last, but not least, the next U.S. president can completely change the U.S. policy towards Afghanistan. Both candidates have time before the election to learn about better options for U.S. foreign affairs from a variety of organizations that have been working daily in/on Afghanistan since the collapse.
The illegal and illegitimate terror regime will continue to gain speeds towards UN recognition as the government of Afghanistan, unless someone takes the lead and begins to put obstacles in their path.
