In the month of August earlier this year, as the last of the American forces deployed in Afghanistan finally began leaving after a long-drawn vigil of twenty years, their bitterest foes immediately swept into the power vacuum left behind.
The dreaded Taliban, a radical Islamist outfit that believes in implementing their own version of the Sharia law and enforcing their hegemony in the country with guns and knives, is now the authority in Afghanistan.
The national army surrendered with little to no resistance and the president Ashraf Ghani fled rather unceremoniously as the armored trucks rattled towards Kabul.
According to sources, he had a briefcase stuffed with banknotes with him and is currently a political refugee in the United Arab Emirates.
HELP FROM CHINA
Needless to say, this has opened a solid can of worms across the entirety of both Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. Afghanistan faces a humanitarian crisis and its record among the nations of the world is not as pristine as it would like it to be.
Which of course, has led to several problems in the international community recognizing the Taliban’s authority and
formalizing diplomatic relations with it. After half a year of desperate attempts to make itself known, it appears the government has finally decided to extend a hand of friendship to China.
Speaking a conference on Sunday, the deputy minister of Information and Culture Zabiullah Mujahid requested the Chinese government to help it to gain acceptance from the global community. He also appealed to the other world leaders to aid the caretaker cabinet once again, though looking at how the previous appeals were met with cold shoulders, it is very much doubtful whether this proposal will have any different fate. The repeated appeals of the Taliban regime for validation come from increasing resentment against the government at both home and abroad.
Even in August a Taliban spokesperson had stressed on the necessity to include China in its development schemes, saying “China is a big country with a huge capacity.
They can play a big role in rebuilding and reconstructing of Afghanistan.”Meanwhile China has also shown considerable support to the Taliban regime by promising to bolster “friendly and cooperative” relations with them.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also described Afghanistan as a “heroic country” citing the former premier of China Mao Zedong.
Furthermore, the Taliban also went a step further and broke its own policy of America by swearing it means no harm to their once mortal enemy and also called upon Washington DC to release the almost $10 billion in funds which were frozen following their ride to power in August.
PROBLEMS
Despite the Taliban’s continuous assurances that it wants but stability in the region, it remains to be seen whether they will actually fulfill their promises or remain the tyrannical, radical face of Islam that they have always been.
The ground realities are rather bleak to be honest. In over the hundred days of power the Taliban has already managed to rot Afghanistan’s economy and humanitarian conditions further fueled by an extremely harsh winter and drought.
They have also failed miserably to restore basic human rights to the country, let alone women and child rights. Looking at the diversity of communities in Afghanistan, the regime has also failed to introduce an inclusive government keeping representation of the myriad peoples in mind.
And the biggest challenge yet remains; the regime has also failed to sever ties with and eliminate the terrorist havens operating with impunity inside the country, one
of the main reasons why the international community still continues its cold shoulder treatment of the Taliban interim government.
