Afghanistan: how to deal with the Taliban regime?
Three years after the withdrawal of the US and Nato and the Taliban takeover, women and girls in particular are suffering most from the situation in Afghanistan. They are barred from higher education and severely restricted in their everyday lives. Commentators ask what stance the West should adopt.
A dilemma for the West
Diena discusses the challenge the West faces here:
“In Western countries in particular, the Taliban are regarded as radical Islamists and terrorists with whom it can only maintain ties - and very limited at that - if its government complies with at least some Western standards. ... In the non-Western world, meanwhile, the attitude towards the Taliban is different. The movement has normalised to varying degrees its relations with China, India and Russia, as well as with the countries of Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. ... The question of which position is more correct in such a situation – to foster relations with the Taliban, or to continue to make demands that they won't fulfil under any circumstances – remains open.”
Strangely afraid to take a clear stance
ABC wonders why the Taliban is so widely tolerated:
“The West has not yet recovered from the failure of America's attempt to build a democratic nation in an inhospitable place. The groups that define themselves as progressive are paralysed. ... Wokist movements are afraid that people might be tempted to proclaim the cultural superiority of liberal democracy and Western open societies over archaic theocratic visions. There's a kind of unspoken pact whereby the Taliban are to be left in peace as long as they don't sponsor terrorist groups. ... The UN should change its attitude and stop collaborating with the regime without receiving anything in return.”
No option but to deal with the Taliban
It's time to rethink Germany's Afghanistan policy, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung urges:
“Does it really help women for humanitarian organisations to be banned from having any contact with the Taliban authorities? Or is this more about satisfying activists in exile? The policy of diplomatically isolating the Taliban looks increasingly like a refusal to face up to moral dilemmas and the realities of a lost war. ... Yearning for a return to a time when things were much better for women and ethnic minorities won't help. In the long run, there is no alternative to diplomatic dealings with the Taliban if we don't want to see the country become an impoverished refuge for terrorist groups again.”
Believing in fairy tales
The West should take a good, hard look at itself, La Stampa demands:
“The problem lies with us, who as an international community preferred to accept the comfortable fairy tale about 'deals' and the positive development of the Taliban, so that we could withdraw and leave our dead behind. ... Then two months ago the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva issued an appeal to the world saying that the Taliban were practising outright apartheid against women, who can no longer study, get proper medical treatment or live in dignity. Let alone have dreams. Suicide rates among girls in Afghanistan are soaring. ... Only the bearded men in the palace are celebrating 'Victory Day'.”
Keep politics and humanitarian aid separate
The Guardian publishes this appeal from an anonymous Afghan aid worker:
“Humanitarian support is dictated not by voices within Afghanistan but by people who have fled the Taliban. ... They call on the international community to sever all ties with the Taliban government. As someone who still lives and works here, I find this misguided. ... As aid budgets shrink, humanitarian workers and resources are stretched even further, and the punishment is felt most by women already suffering from persecution. The international community must instead empower us to help the millions of Afghan women still living in the country, keeping politics and humanitarian aid distinct and apart.”